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 single-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.
  • In submitting manuscripts to The Nigerian Health Journal (TNHJ), the authors accept that the submitted articles are not plagiarized.

Author Guidelines

Information for Authors: writing for the Nigerian health journal (TNHJ):

Introduction

The journal strives to provide readers with open-access, peer-reviewed, articles and commentaries on broadly medical and health-related issues by publishing research findings, case reports, reviews, and perspectives. Authors should carefully read this author’s guidelines and section policies for information on manuscript submission.

Scope of the Journal

Manuscripts submitted to TNHJ   may be in the form of review articles, original research articles, case series and reports, clinical practice materials, editorial letters, short commentaries, books reviews and medical educational materials.  This covers clinical research (Surgery, Paediatrics, Obstetrics and Gynaecology etc), basic medicine (anatomy, physiology, biochemistry etc), nursing, pharmacy/pharmacology, laboratory practice, physiotherapy etc. All contributions are not expected to have been previously published in print or online or simultaneously submitted to another journal. 

Manuscript submission

All articles should be submitted through the journal online article submission platform. Manuscripts should be written in English with double line spacing, with margins of at least I inch on all sides. Pages should be numbered consecutively, beginning with the title page and continuing through to the last page.

Formatting Requirements

Manuscripts should be submitted in Microsoft Word format, Times New Romans with font size of 12 and double-spaced. Authors should remove all identifying information from the main manuscript before submission.

Authorship

Authorship implies responsibility and accountability. This should be those who have made substantial contributions to the research and preparation of the manuscript. Journal subscribes to the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) which based authorship on four criteria:

  • Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work
  • Drafting the work or revising it critically
  • Final approval of the version to be published
  • Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work

The full names of all authors (first, initial, surname) should be provided as well as their affiliations. The phone and email of the corresponding author should also be provided.

Acknowledgements

Contributors who do not meet all four ICMJE criteria are acknowledged but not given authorship status. Acknowledgements of general support, grants, technical assistance, etc, should be indicated. Authors are responsible for obtaining the consent of all institutions and those being acknowledged. The journals endorsed Conflict of interest disclosure forms and statements shall be provided by the Authors before publication of their articles.

Ethical Approval

Authors of original research articles are expected to make statements, confirming the Ethical approval of* the work from their respective institutions on submission of their manuscript. TNHJ may, if necessary, request evidence of such approval from the Authors Institutional Review Boards. When reporting experiments on human subjects, authors should indicate whether the procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000. If doubt exists whether the research was conducted in accordance with the Helsinki Declaration, the authors must explain the rationale for their approach and demonstrate that the institutional review body explicitly approved the doubtful aspects of the study. When reporting experiments on animals, authors should indicate whether the institutional and national guide for the care and use of laboratory animals was followed.

 Preparation of manuscripts

Each manuscript should have a: 

Cover page

Stating Authors names, affiliated institution, corresponding author with full contact address with email and phone numbers, conflict of interest declaration, acknowledgement, ethical conformity statement, a running title of not more than 60 characters, word count for the abstract and manuscript body and acknowledgements.

Abstract

Abstracts should be structured and a summary of the background stating the objective of the paper, methods, results, and conclusion, should not exceed 250 words for all categories of articles. Citations, Figures, Tables, Images, Illustrations, Abbreviations (if possible) should not be included in the abstract.

Keywords

This is essential and frequently used to maximise online retrieval of the article. The keywords should not be more than 7 words/phases, and contain essential terms/words from the title, abstract or main manuscript. Should be cases (except abbreviations or proper names), separated by commas and end in a full stop. Acronyms should be spelt out e.g., IOM, Institute of Medicine.

Abbreviation and Nomenclature

All abbreviations must first be written in full followed by parentheses before subsequent use in the manuscript.  All Non-standard abbreviations contained in the manuscript (excluding references) should be listed in an alphabetical order with definitions after key words

Main Manuscript

Except for Review Articles, Case Reports, Editorial, Short Commentaries and Medical Education articles, all manuscript Should be categorized into the Introduction, Methodology, Results, Discussion and References section.  Each of the following sections should begin on a new pageAll units of measurement and laboratory values must be expressed in line with (System International) SI unit standards.  Tables and figures should be numbered consecutively with Arabic numerals and placed after the sections of the manuscript which they reflect, particularly the results which they describe on separate pages. Legends should be provided for all tables and figures, with Arabic numerals corresponding to the tables and figures. Any abbreviation and symbols in the tables and figures should also be explained. Vertical lines should not be used when constructing the tables. All tables and figures should also be sent in electronic format by email on submission of the manuscript as supplementary files. Clinical Photographs should conceal the subject's identity. The authors accept the full responsibility of obtaining the written consent of the subjects.

The journal adheres to the EQUATOR (Enhancing the QUAlity and Transparency Of health Research) Network initiative that seeks to enhance reporting of medical literature (https://www.equator-network.org/). Authors should ensure that the appropriate reporting guidelines/checklists/statements are followed in reporting their research. Such guidelines include:

  • CONSORT (Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials)
  • PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis)
  • ENTREQ (Enhancing Transparency in REporting the synthesis of Qualitative research)
  • COREQ (Consolidated criteria for REporting Qualitative research)
  • CARE (CAse REport guidelines)
  • SQUIRE (Standards for Quality Improvement Reporting Excellence)
  • STROBE (Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology)
  • SPIRIT (Standard Protocol Items for Interventional Trials)
  • CHEERS (Consolidated Health Economic Evaluation Reporting Standards)
  • STARD (Standards for Reporting Diagnostic Accuracy Studies)
  • MOOSE (Meta-analysis of Observational Studies in Epidemiology)
  • AGREE (Appraisal of Guidelines Research & Evaluation)
  • REMARK (Reporting Recommendations for Tumor Marker Prognostic Studies)

Article Length

Word limits inclusive of references are as follows; Correspondence: 1500 words, Short Commentaries: 2,500 words, Reviews: 4,000 words, Original Research articles: 3,500 words, Case Reports: 2,500 words, Book review 4,000 words, medical education and clinical practice materials 4,000 words.  The word limits exclude tables, figures, and references. Authors should assume each figure counts for 250 words of the total word count. However, depending on the topic and potential impact of a paper, the Editor-in-Chief reserves the right to waive word limits.

Referencing

References should be cited in accordance with the Vancouver citation in line with the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (http://www.icmje.org/). References in the text should be numbered consecutively in superscript font format in the order in which they are first cited, using Arabic numerals.  Unpublished papers should not be listed in the references. The names of the journals in the reference section should be abbreviated in line with Index Medicus guidelines. Journals without standard abbreviation should be written in full. References cited only in tables or figure legends should be numbered in accordance with the first mention of the relevant table or figure in the text. Authors are advised to review the reference guidelines below. [Authors may also view this document through this URL http://www.library.uq.edu.au/training/citation/vancouv.pdf]

The TNHJ Reference guidelines was sourced from the University of Queensland Australia Library resources, titled the “References/Bibliography Vancouver Style “How To guide”.

 The list of references should contain details of only of those works cited in the text which preferably should not be more than 40 references. Your reference list should identify references cited (e.g., book, journal article, pamphlet, internet site, cassette tape or film) in sufficient detail so that others may locate and consult your references. Punctuation marks and spaces in the reference list and citations are very important. Follow the punctuation and spacing exactly in the examples given.  When multiple references are cited at a given place in the text, use a hyphen to join the first and last numbers that are inclusive. Use commas (without spaces) to separate non inclusive numbers in a multiple citation e.g., 2,3,4,5,7,10 is abbreviated to (2-5,7,10) Do not use a hyphen if there are no citation numbers in between that support your statement e.g., 1-2. Give the first six names in full and add “et al”. The authors should be listed in the order in which they appear on the title page and ensure consistency in their referencing format.

Submission checklist

You can use this list to carry out a final check of your submission before you send it to the journal for review. Please check the relevant section in this Guide for Authors for more details.

Ensure that the following items are present:

One author has been designated as the corresponding author √

Contact details of corresponding author is provided:

  • E-mail address √
  • Phone number √
  • Full postal address √

Affiliations and ORCID iDs of all authors are provided √

All necessary files have been uploaded √

Manuscript:

  • Include keywords √
  • All figures (include relevant captions) √
  • All tables (including titles, description, footnotes) √
  • Ensure all figure and table citations in the text match the files provided √
  • Indicate clearly if color should be used for any figures in print √
  • Graphical Abstracts / Highlights files (where applicable) √
  • Supplemental files (where applicable) √

Further considerations

  • Ethics approval obtained and reported in the manuscript √
  • Manuscript has been 'spell checked' and 'grammar checked' √
  • Manuscript reported in line with specified reporting guideline √
  • All references mentioned in the Reference List are cited in the text, and vice versa √
  • References are in Vancouver referencing style √
  • Permission has been obtained for use of copyrighted material from other sources (including the Internet) √
  • A competing interest’s statement is provided, even if the authors have no competing interests to declare Journal policies detailed in this guide have been reviewed 

Subscription rates 

Annual subscription rate for the print format of the journal in Nigeria is six thousand naira (N6, 000.00) per volume for individuals and ten thousand naira (N10, 000.00) per volume for institutions.   The annual international subscription rate is one hundred and twenty (120) dollars per volume.  Subscription rates are inclusive of postage.  Payments can be made with certified cheques, draft or online deposits or swift transfers. [See Subscription order form].  There is no subscription fee for the journal online content.

Publication and Processing Fees

Authors are required to pay an article processing fee of fifty thousand naira only N 50,000.00 (For authors in Nigeria) or 100 dollars (for authors outside Nigeria), on submission of their manuscripts. Those who desire to have a fast track which gives a processing time of 4 weeks will pay N70,000 or 125 dollars for authors outside Nigeria. The processing and publication fees are charged only for running and administrative fees to support the open access policy and projects of the Journal. The processing and publication fees are paid in one bullet as Article Processing Charge only after acceptance of the manuscript

Advertisement 

The TNHJ offers a great opportunity to manufacturers and marketers of drugs, medical equipment, and consumables to reach a large pool of doctors and other health personnel in Nigeria and other subscribing countries with information on their product. The current advert rates are shown below:

  • Quarter page advert = N 50,000.
  • Strategic pages = N 100,000.
  • Inside back page = N 150,000
  • Inside Front page = N 150,000
  • Back page advert = N 200, 000
  • Front page picture = N 200,000

Accounts

Naira account

Bank: Zenith Bank Plc

Account Name: The Nigerian Health Journal

Account Number: 1224492637

Dollar account

Bank: Zenith Bank Plc

Account Name: The Nigerian Health Journal

Account Number: 5072796589

Editorial

Editorial's are articles which pressent the scientific opinion and views of an author on any subject or events. The Editorial may be writen by the Editor, any other member of the Editorial board or an interested author. Editorial's do not require abstract or keywords necessary. The word limits for Editorial's is 1500 words

Review Articles

Review articles provide upto date and evidenced based information which summarizes the current understanding of a particular subject. The word limits incluisive of tables, figures and references is 12000 words. Authors should assume that each figure counts for 250 words of the total word count. Review articles should have an abstract not exceeding 250 words which should be structured into background stating the objectives, methods, results and conclusion.

Original Articles

Original research manuscript Should be categorized into the Introduction, Methodology, Results, Discussion and References section. The Abstracts which should be structured into background stating the objective of the paper, methods, results and conclusion, should not exceed 250 words. The key words should not exceed 10 words while references should not be cited in the abstract. The word limits inclusive of illustration and references is 10,000 words. Authors should assume each figure counts for 250 words of the total word count. 

Case Report and Series

Case Report and series should be categorized into the Introduction, Case Summary, Discussion and Conclusion. It should contain an Abstract which should be structured into background, methods, results and conclusion not exceeding 250 words. The key words should not exceed 10 words while references should not be cited in the abstract. The word limits inclusive of illustration and references is 8000 words. Authors should assume each figure counts for 250 words of the total word count. All Clinical Photographs should conceal the subject's identity. It is the full responsibility of the authors to obtain the written consent of the subjects which covers the use of clinical photographs.

Short Communication

Short communications are concise articles which aim to report new ideas and advances; present unique perspectives  and provide key pointers to the readers on any topic or issue which may have a major impact in current practice. The word limits inclusive of illustration and references is 6500 words. An Abstract which should be structured into background, methods, results and conclusion not exceeding 250 words should also be presented. The key words should not exceed 10 words while references should not be cited in the abstract. 

Book Review

Book reviews are key summaries of  any recent book publication of interest. The word limit is 5000 words. No astract is required

Letter to the Editor

Letter to the Editor are feedback and comments on previously published articles. Authors should include references justiying their position in the letters. Letters should not exceed 1500 words. Abstract and keywords are not necessary.

Medical Education and Clinical Practice

The section aims to promote the CPD & medical education role of the journal and includes clinical photographic quiz, clinical practice/case quiz, mulitple choice question test and the proceeding's of clinical grand rounds. The word limit for this section is 4000 words and no abstract is required. All clinical photographs should maintain the confidentiality of the subjects and the authors accept full responsibility to obtain consent for their use and publication

Abstracts

Scientific and reviewed abstracts which are presented at the Scientific meeting and conferences of the Nigerian Medical Association, Rivers state and her affiliate associations

Notices and Errata

Contain special announcements which may be related to previous or future publications such as errata. Other notices which are of importance to authors, reviewers and readers will also be published.

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.