INFORMATION TO CONTRIBUTORS/AUTHORS

THE ETHIOPIAN JOURNAL OF HEALTH SCIENCES publishes articles on original research findings, observations, review articles, brief communications, case reports and book reviews related to Public Health and Medicine, Papers presented at recognized conferences may be considered for publication.

The journal used to get published biannually until July 2007; since then it is appearing trice a year. The language of the journal is English. All manuscripts submitted for publication are subject to peer review and will be sent to at least two experts in the field. Accepted manuscripts will be the property of the journal/ the University. Those articles not accepted for publication will be returned to the author. The editorial board reserves the right to edit all manuscripts for clarity or structure, fit within the space available and decide on editorial matters. Statements and opinions expressed in the journal are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the Editorial Board, the Research and Publications Office or Jimma University.

Manuscripts to be published should comply with the following style requirements or points. These guidelines are in accordance with the “Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals” published on N Engl J Med, 1997; 336: 309-15.

  1. SUBMISSION: All manuscripts should be submitted in triplicate, typed on one-side of A-4 paper in double spacing with margins of at least 2.5 cm all around. Mail three copies of the manuscript in a heavy paper envelope, enclosing the manuscript copies and figures in cardboard, if necessary, to prevent bending of photographs during mail handling. Place photographs in a separate heavy paper envelope. The authors(s) should submit an electronic manuscript in a diskette and on printed papers that are close to final acceptance in addition to the printed copies. It is important to note that the file in the diskette and the printout are identical.
  2. CONTENTS: Each manuscript component should begin on a new page, in the following sequence: Title page; Abstract and key words; Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, Acknowledgements, References, Tables (each table complete with title and footnotes on a separate page) and Legends for illustrations.
  3. Number pages consecutively beginning with the title page. Type the page number in the upper right-hand corner of each page.
  4. COVER LETTER. A letter signed by all authors declaring that it has not been published or submitted for publication elsewhere should accompany the manuscript. The cover letter should also indicate the name and address of the corresponding author and a statement of financial or other relationships that might lead to a conflict of interest.
  5. TITLE PAGE: Each paper should include the title of the paper and name(s) of the author(s), qualification(s), full addresses and institutional affiliation. It should also indicate name and address (including E- mail) of the author responsible for correspondence and requests for reprints.
  6. AUTHORSHIP: All persons designated as authors should qualify for authorship. Each author should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for the content. The order and credit of authorship should be a joint decision of the authors.
  7. ABSTRACT: Each paper should have structured abstract not exceeding 250 words. This abstract should consist of four paragraphs, labeled Background, Methods (design), Results and Conclusions. They should briefly describe, respectively, the problem being addressed and objectives of the study, how the study was performed, the salient results and what the authors conclude from the results. Abbreviations should be avoided in the abstract. Below the abstract authors should provide 3 to 10 Key words or short phrases that will assist in cross-indexing the article and may be published with the abstract. Use terms from the medical subject headings (MeSH) list of Index Medicus.
  8. INTRODUCTION: The paper should contain an introduction part stating background information, the major objectives of the work and a brief literature review.
  9. MATERIALS AND METHODS or PATIENTS AND METHODS: Authors should briefly describe the conditions under which the investigation has been conducted including the sampling procedures, measurements, data collection and analysis to permit repetition of research work. Statistical methods should be explicitly explained in this section.
  10. ETHICS: When reporting experiments on human subjects indicate whether the procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional or regional) or with the Helsinki Declaration of the 1975, as revised in 1983. Do not use patients' names initials or hospital numbers, especially in illustrative material.
  11. RESULTS: This section should present the major findings of the study in logical sequence in the text, tables, and illustrations. Do not repeat in the text all the data in the tables or illustrations; emphasize or summarize only important observations. While presenting findings in the text, give value first and percentage in parenthesis [eg. #(xx.x%)].

  12. DISCUSSION: In this section, emphasis should be given to important aspects of the study, the conclusions that follow and their limitations.

    • Provide a brief synopsis of key findings, with particular emphasis on how the findings add to the body of pertinent knowledge.
    • Discuss possible mechanisms and explanations for the findings.
    • Compare study results with relevant findings from other published work. Briefly state literature search sources and methods (e.g., English-language MEDLINE search to Jan 2007) that identified previous pertinent work. Use tables and figures to help summarize previous work when possible.
    • Discuss the limitations of the present study and any methods used to minimize or compensate for those limitations.
    • Conclude with a brief section that summarizes the primary findings of the study and forward finding based recommendation.
  13. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: This must be limited to persons or institutions with vital contributions or inputs to the paper such as funding agencies. It should be sent on separate page.
  14. REFERENCES: References should be numbered consecutively in the order in which they are first mentioned in the text, listed in double-spaced typing on a separate paper and keyed to the text.
    Reference to a JOURNAL should include the name(s) of the author(s); title of the article, journal abbreviation (according to the Index Medicus usage) Year of Publication, volume number in Arabic numerals and first and last page numbers. Two authors should be cited together as follows: e.g. John B, Brown S. All authors' names and initials should be listed when 6 or fewer, but if they are more than six, list the first three followed by “et al.”
    Example:
    • Hart CA, Kariuki S. Antimicrobial resistance in developing countries. Br Med J 1998; 317: 647-50.
    • Shen HM, Zhang QF. Risk assessment of nickel carcinogenicity and occupational lung cancer. Environ Health Perspect 1994;102(Suppl 1):275-82.

    Do not include references to personal communications, unpublished data or manuscript in the list of references. If necessary, such materials may be incorporated into the appropriate place in the text.

    Reference to a BOOK should contain the name(s) of the author(s), year of publication, full title, name of editor(s) and edition, if applicable, chapter, name and domicile of publishers, first and last page numbers:
    Example:
    • Chapter in book
      Park MM. Innervation of the intraocular muscle. In: Duane TD, Jaeger EA, eds. Clinical Ophthalomology. 2nd ed. Philadelphia, Lippincot Co, 1988: 1-5.
    • Author
      Ringsven MK, Bond D. Gerontology and Leadership Skills for Nurses. 2nd ed. Albany, NY: Delmar; 1996
    Citations of Electronic References
    Cisler S. MediaTracks. Public Access Comput Syst Rev [serial on-line] 1990;109-15. Accessed at Public Access Computer Systems Forum PACS-L at www.pubaccess.com on 29 November 1997

    Ethiopian names should be referred to in accordance with national usage, e.g. Abebe Tesfaye as AbebeTesfaye, but will be cross-referred in index to as Tesfaye A.
  15. Sign of binomial nomenclature: reference to an organism must be given in full and later references may show a capitalized initial for the genus; e.g. Staphylococcus aureus, as S. aureus.
  16. Drugs should be mentioned by their generic name, if necessary, followed by the proprietary brand and manufacturer name in parentheses: e.g. Metoclopramide (Plasil: Lepetit, Italy).
  17. TABLES and FIGURES. These should be numbered in serial Arabic numerals and should be prepared on separate paper with proper heading or legend, and their correct placing in the text be clearly explained. Do not use internal lines for tables. Lengthy tables and figures are discouraged. Not more than six tables are accepted in each manuscript. Give each column a short or abbreviated heading. Place explanatory matter in footnotes, not in the heading. Explain in footnotes all non-standard abbreviations that are used in each table. For footnotes use the following symbols in this sequence: *, †, ‡, §, ||, ¶, **, ††,….
  18. MEASUREMENTS: length, height, weight, and volume measurements should be reported in metric units (meter, kilogram, or liter) or their decimal multiples. Temperatures should be given in degrees of Celsius (0C) and blood pressures should be measured in millimetres of mercury.
    All haematologic and clinical chemistry measurements should be reported in the metric system in terms of the International System of Units (SI).
  19. ABBREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS: Use only standard abbreviations and recognized symbols for chemical elements, drugs, statistics, etc. Avoid abbreviations in the title and abstract. The full term for which an abbreviation stands should precede its first use in the text unless it is a standard unit of measurement.
  20. OFF PRINTS: Twenty reprints (off prints) will be supplied free to the corresponding author.
  21. VOLUMES OF MANUSCRIPTS: Original articles should be no longer than 3000 words (excluding title page, abstract, acknowledgements and references)
    Review articles should contain an average of 5000 words.
    Brief communication should not exceed 1500 words with not more than 20 References and 2-3 figures or tables.

    Click here Review Procedures

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