Instructions for Authors

Aims, scope and policy: The East African Journal of Public Health is a multi-disciplinary journal publishing scientific research work from a wide range of public health related disciplines including community medicine, epidemiology, biostatistics, behavioural sciences, health promotion, environmental health, nutrition, communicable and non-communicable diseases. The journal also engages in, and responds to, current scientific and policy debates, including methodological issues in public health research. The journal aims at both to focus and reflect on current public health concerns as well as contribute to the setting of research agenda in public health research.

The editors invite submission of manuscripts comprising original papers, short reviews, long reviews, and letters to the Editor. Topical review articles and editorials are also accepted but by invitation. Original articles should not be longer than 4500 words with no more than seven tables including illustrations while short articles, reports, and communications should not exceed 700 words. Letters to the editor should not be longer than 200 words. The word count limit does not include abstract, references, tables and figures.

Manuscript preparation. Manuscripts should be prepared in English and printed or typewritten double spaced on good A4 (210 x 297) white paper with margins of at least 25mm on left side. If word-processing is used, the manuscript should be printed using a good laser printer with font size 12 on one side of the paper. Please do not use fancy fonts as the journal recommends Times New Roman. Manuscripts for submission to the journal should conform to the uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals (Uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals. International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. Med.Educ. 1999;33(1):66-78 or the following website http://www.icmje.org/index.html).

The editors reserve the right to make amendments to papers accepted for publication although, whenever possible, they will seek the authors’ consent to any changes made. Scientific measurements should be in S.I. units except blood pressure which should be expressed in mmHg, degrees centigrade for temperature and haemoglobin in grammes per decilitre (g/dl). References for original long articles should not exceed 25 while short articles and letters to the editor should have a maximum of 5 references.

General format:

Title should be concise and informative. Unless necessary, the title should not contain abbreviations and formulae. Manuscripts for original papers should have the following subheadings or sections: Title, Abstract, Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, Acknowledgements and References.

Sections of the manuscript

Title page should bear the full title, short running title and five key words for indexing. The names of authors should include the surname and initials of each author, plus their main departmental and institutional affiliation as well as country. Corresponding author should be indicated with their fax number, telephone and e-mail address.

Abstract: Manuscripts should have a structured abstract of not more than 300 words consisting of the following subheadings (1) Objective: The background and purpose of the study (2) Methods: the study design, setting, participants (including manner of sample selection, number and sex of participants) and interventions (3) Results: details of major findings and (4) Conclusion(s): main inferences drawn from the results and potential application of findings. Reference citations should be avoided.

Introduction: This section should acquaint the reader with the background of the study and should contain a clear statement of the goals of the investigation or the hypotheses that the study was designed to test. This section should end with a very brief statement of what is being reported in the paper.

Methods: This should include the design of the study, the setting, the type of participants or materials involved, sample size (where appropriate), instrument(s) used (e.g. questionnaire), a clear description of all interventions and comparisons (where appropriate), ethical issues, and the type of statistical analysis done including software used. The methods should be described in sufficient detail to allow the reader to judge their accuracy, reproducibility, and reliability.

Results: The data should be described succinctly but completely in text without redundancy between figures and tables or discrepancy between text and tables. When data are summarized in the results section, give numeric results not only as derivatives (e.g. percentages) but also the absolute numbers from which these were calculated. Graphic and tabular displays are preferred to discursive narrative (except for qualitative data). Sufficient data must be provided to allow the reader to judge their variability and reliability of the results. Average values must be accompanied by standard errors or standard deviations (SD); for example: mean age (SD) = 25.5 (±0.5). Statistical analyses of the data should be described clearly so that the interested but non-expert reader can interpret the findings. For quantitative data, appropriate indicators of uncertainty (such as confidence intervals) should be presented, and reliance solely on statistical hypotheses testing, such as P values should be avoided where possible. If P values are used these should be accompanied by degrees of freedom (e.g. ,χ ² =16, df=4, p= 0.02; t=3.5, df = 3, p=0.05). Authors are strongly advised to refer to the following best practices research guidelines:-

i. CONSORT for reports of randomized trials available from http://www.consort-statement.org/,
ii. STROBE for reports from observational studies in epidemiology (http://www.strobe-statement.org)
iii. TREND for reports of non-randomized evaluations of intervention (http://www.trend-statement.org/asp/trend.asp)
iv. QUOROM for systematic reviews and meta-analysis (http://www.strobe-statement.org/Evidence/evidence.html#quorom)

Discussion: The discussion of findings and their interpretation should be brief and focused. Alternative interpretations and/or limitations in the procedures should be explained. Avoid repetition of material in the introduction and detailed repetition of the findings. Speculative discussion should be limited and directly relevant to the results obtained. Conclusions made should be directly borne out of the study findings.

Acknowledgements: Please acknowledge any person who contributed towards the study by making substantial contributions to conception, design, acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data, or who was involved in drafting the manuscript or revising it critically for important intellectual content, but does not meet the criteria for authorship. Please acknowledge also any person who contributed materials essential for the study. Authors should obtain permission to acknowledge from all those mentioned in the acknowledgement. Please list the sources of funding for the project in the acknowledgements section.

References. EAJPH uses a variant of the Vancouver style. All references must be numbered consecutively, in brackets, in the order in which they are cited in the paper. Please each reference must have an individual reference number. Avoid excessive referencing. If automatic numbering systems are used, the reference numbers must be finalized and the bibliography must be fully formatted before submission.

Only articles and abstracts that have been published or are in press, or are available through public e-print/preprint servers, may be cited; unpublished abstracts, unpublished data and personal communications should not be included in the reference list, but may be included in the text. Notes/footnotes are not permitted. Obtaining permission to quote personal communications and unpublished data from the cited authors(s) is the responsibility of the authors. Authors are also responsible for the accuracy of the references. Journal abbreviations follow Index Medicus/Medline. Citations in the reference list should give the names and initials of all authors unless there are more than six when only the first three should be given followed by et al.

Examples of the East African Journal of Public Health reference style are given below:

Journal article

1. Kisamvu JB, Karanga JL, Motto SF, et al. Malaria treatment failure rates in underfive children. East Afr Med J 2003;73:332-335.

Articles within a journal supplement

2. Mwenge CB, Karanga JL, Motto SF, et al. Antifungal treatment failure rates in AIDS patients. East AfrJ Epidemiol 2005;Suppl 3:32-35.

In press articles

3. Maharage BL, Karanga JL, Kitokke PS. Nutritional assessment among underfive children. East AfrJ Nutr , in press.

Published abstract

4. Kikko JB, Mchele JL, Jinno SF, et al. Adolescent health in rural communities (abstract). Afr J Adolesc 2003;73:335.

Articles within conference proceedings.

5. Chungwa BN, Mtama JL, Motto SF. Cassava poisoning in semi-arid rural areas. In: Proceedings of the 3rd National Conference on Nutrition in Tanzania:27-30 June 2003; Arusha. Edited by Fissi GB. Dar es Salaam: Kolosso Press; 2003:332-335.

Book chapter, or article within a book

6. Korosho TK. Vitamin A deficiency in poor communities. In: Plumber JG, Kulola MB, eds. Nutrition and Health in Africa. 2nd Edition. Dar es Salaam: Kitoke Press; 1997:54-69.

PhD thesis

7. Asali JB. Epidemiology of filariasis in Malagwa. PhD thesis. Muhimbili University; 2004.

Ethics. The East African Journal of Public Health complies with the Forum for African Medical Editors (FAME ) guidelines and with the ethical principles, including the provisions of the World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki (as amended by the 52nd General Assembly, Edinburgh, Scotland, October 2000; see http://www.healthscience.net/resources/declaration-of-helsinki/) and the additional requirements, if any, of the country in which the research was carried out. Manuscripts submitted to the East African Journal of Public Health for publication must contain a clear statement specifying that the free and informed consent of subjects or their legal guardians was obtained and that the relevant institutional or national ethical committee or board approved the investigation.

Tables: Each table should be typewritten on a separate page and should be numbered consecutively using Arabic numerals. Each table must have a concise descriptive heading, and table format should be constructed as simply as possible. Avoid vertical lines i.e. use only tabs and text typed directly in the word processing document rather than boxes or other formatting functions. Tables must be intelligible without reference to the text. Footnotes to tables should be referred to by italicized lowercase superscript letters (a,b,c, d etc) and should appear beneath the table involved, not on a separate page of the manuscript. Please do not use any functions or tools that format footnotes, but rather set footnotes in plain type below the table.

Figures captions: These should be numbered consecutively in Arabic numerals and should appear on a separate page of the manuscript. Captions should explain the figures in sufficient detail so that repeated reference to the text is unnecessary. Abbreviations in the captions should conform to those in the text.

Figures: One set of graphs and diagrams must be submitted as original laser (not inkjet) prints, with the figure number and the author’s name indicated on the front of each print (at the top of the print, above the material to be reproduced). Photocopies of all figures must accompany each of the four copies of the manuscript submitted and should be embedded within the word processing file at the end of the manuscript. In addition, provide on a diskette a separate computer file for each figure in the format that figure was originally designed in (e.g., .xls for Excel file). Figures should be black and white only. Authors will be charged a fee for the use of colour. Note that as gray or colour figures result in files too large to fit on a standard diskette, the editor-in-chief will contact the corresponding author to email these figures during the production of an accepted article. The title of each figure should appear in the caption rather than on the figure itself. Line drawings and graphs should be professionally drawn and lettered; freehand or typewritten lettering is not acceptable.

Manuscript submission. Authors are advised to submit their manuscripts electronically and where such electronic services are not available, manuscripts should be submitted in triplicate and authors are advised to keep copies. PDF files are not acceptable. Each manuscript should be accompanied by a cover letter which should contain the following: (i) the name, address, email address, and telephone/fax numbers of the corresponding author (ii) statement that the paper contains original material, not submitted, in press, or published elsewhere in any form; (iii) a note describing if the manuscript is one of several papers derived from the same dataset or if similar or overlapping data are reported in any other manuscripts and, if so, how the current submission differs from the others (this should also be stated in the manuscript); (iv) a statement that each author has contributed significantly to the work and agrees to the submission; (v) a note describing any conflict of interest regarding the paper or statement that no conflict exists; (6) an explanation of the contribution of the present manuscript to the literature; (7) if desired, suggestions for possible reviewers, and finally (8) the signatures of all authors.

All manuscripts should be submitted to:

The Editor-in-Chief
East African Journal of Public Health
P.O. Box 65015
Dar es Salaam
Tanzania
E-mail:kmnyika@muchs.ac.tz

Abbreviations.Use standard abbreviations approved by the Council of Biology Editors Style Guide or other standard sources. Authors should write out the full term for each abbreviation at its first use unless it is a standard unit of measure.

Review process: After initial screening, which takes only a few days, manuscripts are sent to two referees. If appropriate, a statistical reviewer is involved. On average, authors are informed on the outcome of the review within 6-8 weeks with a first decision. Poor English does not prevent acceptance provided the paper’s content is of high scientific quality. The revised manuscript is assessed by the editor, or, in case of a major revison, returned to the referees. All accepted manuscripts are copy-edited. Authors are strongly advised to work on reviewers’ comments and return the revised manuscripts as soon as possible (preferably within two weeks). Rejected manuscripts will not be returned to the authors. The Editors reserve the right to accept or reject any manuscript submitted for publication. The editors cannot enter into correspondence about papers considered unsuitable for publication and their decision will be final. Neither the editors nor the publishers accept responsibility for the views of authors expressed in their contributions.

Authorship: The journal has adopted the guidelines of the International Committee of Medical Editors regarding authorship. These state that an “authors” is any person who has made substantive intellectual contributions to the paper. In order for someone to qualify as an author should (i) have made substantial contributions to the conception and design, or acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data; (ii) have been involved in drafting the manuscript or revising it critically for important intellectual content; and (iii) have given final approval of the version to be published. Each author should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the content. Acquisition of funding, collection of data, or general supervision of research group, alone does not justify authorship. All others who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in an acknowledgements section. The order of authorship should be a joint decision of the co-authors.

Conflict of interest. Authors are advised to declare any sources of funding and potential conflicting interest, such as receiving funds or fees by, or holding stocks and shares in, an organization that may profit or lose through publication of the paper. Declaring a competing interest will not lead to rejection of the manuscript, but editors would like to be made aware of it. For further information on what constitutes a conflict of interest visit the website http://www.icmje.org/sponsor.htm

Reprints. The corresponding authors of articles will be supplied free with one copy of the journal in which their publication appears. Offprints may be ordered in multiples of 50 at a cost of US$ 200.

Copyright: Copyright of articles is held by the East African Journal of Public Health. However, authors may use their own material elsewhere provided acknowledgement is made to the journal as the original place of publication.

Subscription rates

Annual subscription (2 issues per year)

Institutions: US$ 50 (East Africa), US$ 200 (Europe), US$ 250 (USA).
Individuals: US$ 25 (East Africa), US$ 120 (Europe), US$ 140 (USA).

Purchase of single copies: US$ 15.00 per copy VAT. Prices include postage by regular mail within Tanzania, and by air-speeded delivery elsewhere. Purchase of single copy directly from our editorial office without postage US$ 5.00

Orders for subscriptions should be sent to the Editor-in-Chief, East African Journal of Public Health, P.O. Box 65015, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania; e-mail: kmnyika@muchs.ac.tz

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Copyright

ISSN 0856–8960 Copyright © East African Journal of Public Health