Author Information

Disability and Health Journal is a scientific, scholarly, and multidisciplinary journal for reporting original contributions that advance knowledge in disability and health. Topics may be related to global health and quality of life and specific health conditions as they relate to disability. Such contributions include:

• Reports of empirical research on the characteristics of persons with disabilities, environment, health outcomes, and determinants of health;
• Systematic or other evidence-based reviews and tightly conceived theoretical interpretations of research literature;
• Evaluative research on new interventions, technologies, and programs;
• Reports on issues or policies affecting the health and/or quality of life for persons with disabilities, using a scientific base.

The Journal focuses on individual health, public health, health promotion, health education, wellness, community participation (e.g., employment, recreation, personal relationships and access to services) and tertiary prevention (e.g., rehabilitation, reducing the incidence of secondary conditions).

Submission Guidelines:

All manuscripts should be submitted to Disability and Health Journal via our online manuscript submission and peer review system at http://ees.elsevier.com/dhjo. Additional instructions about the electronic submission process are available at the website. If authors experience any difficulty during the submission process or require any assistance, please contact support@elsevier.com

Except where explicitly stated otherwise, Disability and Health Journal conforms to the guidelines set forth by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). See Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals: Writing and Editing for Biomedical Publication (February 2006); available at http://ICMJE.org

All manuscripts considered suitable for the Journal are strictly refereed. Articles are reviewed with the understanding that they are original contributions submitted solely to Disability and Health Journal and are not under consideration for publication elsewhere. Previous presentation of abstracts at meetings regarding the research is acceptable but should be noted on the title page. For copyrighted and/or previously published material (eg, figures or tables) that is duplicated in the submission, written, signed permissions from the copyright holder must be uploaded at time of submission.

Manuscripts must be double-spaced with standard 1-inch margins. Pages should be numbered consecutively.

Title Page. Please include a title page with the full names of authors, degrees, academic or professional affiliation, and complete address, phone number, and e-mail address of the corresponding author. Up to five key words should be indicated on the title page. The title page must include publishable statements of funding or conflicts of interest. Note any previous presentation of abstracts at meetings regarding the research. (See the section on Disclosure of Financial Interests and Potential Conflicts of Interest below for further information.)

The title page must include a word count for the abstract, a complete manuscript word count (to include body text and figure legends), number of references, and number of figures/tables. Please see below for the maximum length of submissions by article type.

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 corresponding author affirms that he or she had access to all data from the study, both what is reported and what is unreported, and also that he or she had complete freedom to direct its analysis and its reporting, without influence from sponsors. The corresponding author also affirms that there was no editorial direction or censorship from the sponsors. Preparation of drafts of manuscripts by employees of the sponsor who are not listed as authors is expressly prohibited.

Authorship credit should be based on substantial contributions to: (1) conception and design or analysis and interpretation of data; (2) drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content; and (3) final approval of the version to be submitted/published. All three conditions must be met. Participation solely in the acquisition of funding or the collection of data does not justify authorship. General supervision of the research group is also not sufficient. Any part of an article critical to its main conclusions must be the responsibility of at least one author.

Only those with key responsibility for the material in the article should be listed as authors; others contributing to the work should be recognized in the Acknowledgement section. Editors may require authors to justify the assignment of authorship. For more information about considerations related to authorship, please see http://icmje.org/ethical_1author.html.

Types of Articles

Original Research. Original Articles are scientific reports of the results of original clinical research. The text is limited to 4000 words (not including abstract, acknowledgments, figure legends, tables, references, and ancillary online-only material), with a structured abstract of 250 words or less (see instructions below for structure), and a maximum of 6 tables and/or figures total.

Brief Reports. Brief Reports can provide their results clearly in a shorter format or represent pilot work, small number of subjects, or nonstandardized measurements. The text is limited to 2500 words (not including abstract, acknowledgments, figure legends, tables, references, and ancillary online-only material) and a maximum of 3 tables and/or figures total. A structured abstract of 250 words or less is required (see instructions below for structure).

Evidence-based Review Articles. Review articles should be developed with a search methodology and review process. The type of review being reported must be named (see Grant et al. A typology of reviews: an analysis of 14 review types and associated methodologies. Health Info Libr J 2009;26: 91-108 ). Methods must be described, such as type of search, inclusion/exclusion criteria, review process, determination of levels of evidence or scientific rigor. Narratives that cite multiple references found through a library search is not considered an evidence-based review. A structured abstract of 250 words or less is required (see instructions below for structure). The text is limited to a maximum of 5000 words of text (not including abstract, acknowledgments, figure legends, tables, references, and ancillary online-only material), with no more than a total of 6 tables and/or figures.

Commentary. Manuscripts are editor-solicited or negotiated after correspondence with Editors. Topics relate to articles within the issue or timely perspectives on emerging issues in the field and may include presentations in such areas as policy, ethics, current events, or controversies (single view or point/counterpoint). The text is limited to a maximum of 3000 words of text (not including abstract and references). An Abstract that is a brief narrative summary without subheadings that does not exceed 150 words is required.

Authors wishing to submit an unsolicited Commentary should send proposals with a brief, 250-word synopsis of the planned Commentary to disabilityandhealthjnl@gmail.com for pre-submission approval by the Editors. Authors of approved proposals will receive instructions for submission from the Editorial Office.

Editorial. Editorials are solicited by the Editors.

Letters to the Editor. Letters discussing a recently published article in the Journal should be received within 4 weeks of the article's publication. The text is limited to a maximum of 500 words of text, one table and/or figure, and 5 references; no abstract is needed. Ensure that the article about which you are writing is included in the list of references. Letters not meeting these specifications are generally not considered.

Preparation of Manuscripts

Format for Abstracts. For Original Research, Brief Reports, and Review Articles, abstracts should not exceed 250 words and should be written in the form of:

Background. This is a concise statement of why this research was done, placing it in the context of current knowledge or controversies.

Objective/Hypothesis. This is a clear statement of the precise objective or question addressed in the paper. If a hypothesis was tested, it should be stated.

Methods. The basic design of the study and its duration should be described. The methods used should be stated and the statistical data/methods provided.

Results. The main results of the study should be given in narrative form. Any measurements or other information that may require explanation should be defined. Any important information not included in the presentation of results should be declared. Levels of statistical significance should be indicated, as well as any other factors crucial to the outcome of the study.

Conclusions. Conclusions of the study that are directly supported by the evidence reported should be given along with the clinical application, and speculation about the potential impact on current thinking.

Structure of body text. The manuscript files for Original Research and Brief Reports should be structured with sections entitled and ordered as follows: Abstract, Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusion, Acknowledgements, References, Figure Legends. Please begin sections on separate pages. Acronyms must be spelled out on first use in the text, and where used in tables or figures, in each of their legends/titles/footnotes.

Acknowledgements. All acknowledgements should follow the discussion section and precede the reference section. This section should include acknowledgements for personal and technical assistance. If a research group is listed as an author, then the individual members of the research team should also be named here. Authors should identify individuals who provide writing assistance and disclose the funding source for this assistance.

Because readers may infer endorsement of the data and conclusions, all persons acknowledged must give written permission for their contribution to be noted in print. It is the corresponding author's responsibility to obtain written permission. Upload written, signed permissions from each person named in the Acknowledgments at the time of submission. (Example available here.)

References. References should be listed numerically, corresponding to their order of appearance in the text. Disability and Health Journal uses the Vancouver reference style. Citation in the text is by superscript Arabic numeral. Use et al only for six or more authors; et al follows the names of the first three authors.

Textual Footnotes. If used, footnotes to text should be numbered consecutively with superior Arabic numerals.

Figures and Tables. Figures and tables should be numbered in the order of their mention with Arabic numerals (ie, 1, 2, 3) and should have brief descriptions. Avoid 1a, 1b, 1c numbering; numerical sequence and separate captions are preferred.

Tables must be uploaded as separate files in document format (eg, .doc). Add numbers to each table. Place the title of the table at the top of each table. Footnotes for tables should be indicated by symbols: *,†, ‡, §, ∥, ¶, #, **, ††, ‡‡, §§, ∥∥, ¶¶, etc.

Figures must be uploaded as separate files in .tif, .eps, or .jpg format. Figure captions must be a separate page within the manuscript file and not included in the figure file(s). Please ensure that the resolution of the figures is sufficient for publication; for example, photographic images should be at least 300 ppi, and line art should be at least 1000 ppi. Please see http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/authors.authors/authorartworkinstructions for more information about the technical requirements for figures.

Color Figures. Authors are expected to pay the extra cost associated with reproduction of color illustrations in the print version of the Journal. If the submission is accepted, the publisher will contact you with pricing and instructions for payment. If the figures will be clear in grayscale, the figures can appear in grayscale in the print version and color in the online version.

Ancillary Material. Supplementary material, relevant to the work but not critical to support the findings, is made available via links in the online article but not published in print. Ancillary material is not intended for print publication but is available for reviewers and highly interested readers through the Journal's website. Examples include additional lengthy tables, in-depth photographs of scientific methods, or short videos. All such material will be posted exactly as received and should be submitted as intended for viewing.

Review Process

The Editors select the reviewers, although suggestions of potential reviewers are encouraged. As a general rule, two independent reviewers evaluate each manuscript. On occasion, the editor will request an additional review for statistical adequacy or for other reasons. The comments of the reviewers are generally communicated to the authors within 1-2 months of submission. Authors should contact the Editorial Office if it has been longer.

Disability and Health Journal excludes reviewers who work at the same institution as any author, or those who have any other obvious conflict of interest. The identity of individual reviewers remains confidential to all parties except the Editorial Office.

Authors should be aware that manuscripts might be returned without outside review when the Editors deem that the paper is of insufficient general interest for the readership of Disability and Health Journal or that the scientific priority is such that is unlikely to receive favorable reviews. Editorial rejection is done to speed up the editorial process and to allow the authors more time to promptly submit manuscripts elsewhere. All other submissions (with the general exceptions of Editorials and Correspondence) will be subject to peer review.

Authors may send queries concerning the submission process, manuscript status, or journal procedures to the Editorial Office via an e-mail link on the author's main page in the submission system or by e-mailing the Editorial Office via regular e-mail. All correspondence, including the Editor's decision and request for revisions, will be made via e-mail.

Disclosure of Financial Interests and Potential Conflicts of Interest. Disability and Health Journal requires all authors to provide full disclosure of any and all relevant financial interests. Further, we require all authors of all types of articles (including letters) to specify the nature of potential conflicts of interest, financial or otherwise. This disclosure includes direct or indirect financial or personal relationships, interests, and affiliations relevant to the subject matter of the manuscript that have occurred over the last two years, or that are expected in the foreseeable future. This disclosure includes, but is not limited to, grants or funding, employment, affiliations, patents (in preparation, filed, or granted), inventions, honoraria, consultancies, royalties, stock options/ownership, or expert testimony. This policy of full disclosure is similar to the policies of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, the Journal of the American Medical Association, and other such organizations.

Conflict of interest statements must be included on the Title Page at the time of submission for all article types. If an author has no conflicts of interest to declare, this must be explicitly stated. Authors should err on the side of inclusion when in doubt.

The corresponding author will be required to indicate that this information has been fully included in the manuscript at the time of submission. In addition, corresponding authors are required to acknowledge that the conflict of interest disclosures are complete for both themselves and their co-authors, to the best of their knowledge. Omission of relevant information may lead to rejection of the submission at any stage in the process.

Patient Rights. Patients have a right to privacy that should not be infringed without informed consent. Identifying information, including patients' names, initials, or hospital numbers, should not be published in written descriptions, photographs, and pedigrees unless the information is essential for scientific purposes and the patient (or parent or guardian) gives written informed consent for publication. Informed consent for this purpose requires that a patient who is identifiable be shown the manuscript to be published.

Identifying details should be omitted if they are not essential. Complete anonymity is difficult to achieve, however, and informed consent should be obtained if there is any doubt. For example, masking the eye region in photographs of patients is inadequate protection of anonymity. If identifying characteristics are altered to protect anonymity, such as in genetic pedigrees, authors should provide assurance that alterations do not distort scientific meaning and editors should so note. Upload written, signed permissions from the patient or legal guardian for publication of recognizable photographs at the time of submission.

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 be asked to indicate whether the institutional and national guide for the care and use of laboratory animals was followed.

Checklist

The order of the documents should be as follow:
1. Cover letter, include statements of originality and authorship (see above)
2. Title page, as described above (in .doc format)3. Manuscript, including abstract, main text, acknowledgements, references, and figure legends (in .doc format)
3. Tables (in .doc format) and/or figures (in .tif, .eps, or .jpg format) in separate files
4. Ancillary information for online only availability
5. Copy of IRB approval and/or permissions, as needed

Authors are required to submit all files in electronic form. Files should be labeled with logically descriptive file names (e.g., "Manuscript.doc." Figure_1.tif). Please note that original source files, not PDF files, are required.

Language and Copyediting Services. As needed, please have your work reviewed by a colleague for whom English is a first language, or visit http://webshop.elsevier.com/languageservices for other resources. The following general editing checklist may also be helpful: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/authors.authors/editchecklist.

For general guidelines about disability-appropriate language, please see http://www.txddc.state.tx.us/resources/publications/pfanguage.asp.

PDF Proofing. The corresponding author of accepted manuscripts will receive proofs in PDF format via an e-mail link. Proofs should be corrected and returned within 48 hours. Authors should carefully check all proofs, as it is their responsibility to see that all errors are corrected and queries from editors answered. The authors have final responsibility for the accuracy of the publication. Any paid color figures will be included in the PDF proof. Shortly after corrections to the proof are returned, the corrected manuscript will be available online as an Article In Press (AIP) and indexed in PubMed.

Reprints. Reprints may be ordered before publication. A reprint order form is mailed separately to the corresponding author.

Copyright. Upon acceptance of an article by the Journal, the author will be sent a copyright transfer form along with acknowledgement of acceptance of manuscript. The author is asked to transfer copyright of the article to the publisher. This transfer will ensure the widest possible dissemination of information under U.S. Copyright Law.

Updated July 23, 2012