Official Publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine
SAM members can access full-text articles on JAH Online at http://jahonline.org.

The Journal of Adolescent Health is a multidisciplinary scientific Journal, which seeks to publish new research findings in the field of Adolescent Medicine and Health ranging from the basic biological and behavioral sciences to public health and policy. We seek original manuscripts, review articles, letters to the editor, commentaries and clinical observations from our colleagues in Anthropology, Dentistry and Oral Health, Education, Health Services Research, International Health, Law, Medicine, Mental Health, Nursing, Nutrition, Psychology, Public Health and Policy, Social Work, Sociology, Youth Development, and other disciplines that work with or are committed to improving the lives of adolescents and young adults.

The Journal is the official publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine (SAM), a multidisciplinary organization committed to improving the health and well-being of adolescents. One of the Society's primary goals is the development, synthesis, and dissemination of scientific and scholarly knowledge unique to the health needs of adolescents. To meet this goal, the Society established the Journal of Adolescent Health in 1980.

Manuscripts submitted to The Journal of Adolescent Health will receive a timely review; the editors endeavor to notify authors within six weeks of receipt of manuscript whether their work is accepted, rejected, or requires revision. Manuscripts will be reviewed by internationally recognized experts on the subject. When relevant, a biostatistician consultant will also review the manuscript. The identity of the Authors will be revealed to the Reviewers, but Reviewers' names will be masked from the Authors.

Accepted manuscripts will be published within 6 months of the date of final acceptance (except where noted otherwise) provided all production materials have been delivered to the Editorial Office. Submit manuscripts to the Journal of Adolescent Health's Editorial Office via the Elsevier Editorial system (EES) website for this journal; go to http://journals.elsevierhealth.com/periodicals/JAH and click on the "Submit Manuscript" button near the center of the page. All correspondence regarding submitted manuscripts can be handled through EES or by sending e-mail to the Managing Editor. All other correspondence can be sent directly to:

Tor D. Berg
Managing Editor
Editorial Office, Journal of Adolescent Health
University of California, San Francisco
Research and Policy Center for Childhood & Adolescence
3333 California Street, Suite 245
San Francisco, California 94118-6210
USA
e-mail: tor.berg@ucsf.edu
Phone: 415-502-1373
Fax: 415-476-6106



Original Articles: Scientific reports which are the result of original research. Text is limited to 3500 words with a 250-word structured abstract, 5 tables/figures and 40 references.

Review articles: The Editor-in-Chief and/or one of the Associate Editors usually solicit these articles. Prior to writing a review article for this section, authors are required to submit a proposal letter and an outline to the the Managing Editor by e-mail at tor.berg@ucsf.edu. Authors need to identify the content area for the review article that they are submitting: Behavioral/Psychosocial Sciences, Clinical/Health Sciences, Public Policy/Public Health, International Health, or Youth Development. The proposal will be reviewed by one or more of our Associate Editors and he/she will advise the authors on proceeding to a full manuscript. This review of the proposal will take place within four weeks of receipt of the outline. The final format of the article should include the introduction, review of the relevant literature, discussion, summary and implications section. Each review article must have a 150-word summary abstract. Review articles will be limited to 4500 words, 5 tables/figures and an unlimited number of references.

Adolescent Health Briefs: Scientific reports of original research that represent preliminary findings, small samples and newly described associations in unique populations. Articles in this format are limited to 1000 words or less with a structured abstract of 50 words or less. A combined total of 2 figures and/or tables and a maximum of 10 references will be accepted.

Clinical Observations: These observations represent rare and new observations in the clinical arena. Papers in this format are limited to 1000 words and should include an introduction, concise discussion of the clinical observation, and discussion. A combined total of 1 figure, table or illustration and 10 references will be accepted.

Editorial Correspondence: Letters regarding articles published in the Journal within the proceeding 6 months or to related topics should not exceed 400 words. This correspondence is published at the discretion of the Editor-in-chief and the Associate Editors.

Fast Tracking for Critical Issues in Adolescent Health and Medicine: The fast tracking system has been developed by the Journal in order to facilitate and encourage the submission of manuscripts to the Journal that are of very high quality, have documented findings that may change the content of clinical practice, have findings that may assist with the national and/or international dialogue about critical issues affecting adolescents and young adults and most importantly cannot wait for our regular review and publication process. When authors identify their submitted manuscript as a fast-track article, it is forwarded to one of our Associate Editors for an internal review to determine if the manuscript warrants an expedited review. A determination is made within 3 days of submission. There are three possible outcomes: (1) Fast Tracking, (2) Regular review process and (3) Rejection. If the article is fast tracked, it is immediately forwarded to two reviewers from our Editorial Board, who are given two weeks to conduct the review. We shall notify the authors within three weeks from the time of submission about the outcome of the review. If the review is favorable with revisions, we shall need the revisions within two weeks. Fast tracking is a rare event and should not be viewed as a mechanism to obtain an expedited review. The article should be prepared in the same manner as an Original Article.

Manuscripts must be submitted via the Elsevier Editorial System (EES) website for this journal, go to http://journals.elsevierhealth.com/periodicals/JAH and select the "Submit Manuscript" button near the center of the page You will be guided stepwise through the creation and uploading of the various files and data. Once the uploading is done, the system automatically generates an electronic (PDF) proof, which is then used for reviewing. All correspondence regarding submitted manuscripts will be handled via e-mail through EES.

For the purposes of EES, a manuscript submission consists of a minimum of three distinct files: a Cover Letter; a Title page including acknowledgements, if any; and the Manuscript itself, including the abstract. EES accepts files from a broad range of word processing applications. All three files should be set in 12-point double-spaced type and all pages should be numbered consecutively). The file should follow the general instructions on style/arrangement, and, in particular, the reference style.

In addition, Tables and Figures should be included as separate and individual files.

If Electronic submission is not possible, please contact Mr. Tor Berg, the managing editor at tor.berg@ucsf.edu, or by phone at 415-502-1373 or by mail at Editorial Office, Journal of Adolescent Health, University of California, San Francisco, Research and Policy Center for Childhood and Adolescence, 3333 California Street, Suite 245, San Francisco, California 94118.

Cover Letter: The Cover Letter should explicitly state the title of the manuscript being submitted; the study's IRB status, the authors' knowledge of and compliance with the Journal's Conflict of Interest policy (see below); and the corresponding author's name, mailing address, e-mail address, and phone number. The Cover Letter should list all of the manuscript's co-authors and a statement that all are aware that the manuscript is being submitted to the Journal.

Title Page/Acknowledgements: The title page should contain a concise but informative title; first name, middle initial, and last name of each author with the highest academic degree(s) of each; name of the department(s) and institution(s) to which the work should be attributed; name, address, telephone number, and fax number of author to whom requests for reprints and correspondence should be addressed; the source(s) of support such as grants, equipment, or drugs; and any acknowledgements of persons who have made a substantive contribution to the study.

Authors should obtain written permission from anyone that they wish to list in the Acknowledgement section. The corresponding author must also affirm that he or she has listed everyone who contributed significantly to the work in the Acknowledgements.

Manuscript (including abstract): The Manuscript itself should be submitted as its own separate file. The document should include the abstract at the beginning and references should be included at the end of the document.

The text of original observational and experimental articles and brief scientific reports should usually--but not necessarily--be divided into the following sections: introduction, methods, results, and discussion.

The Introduction should clearly state the purpose(s) of the article and summarize the rationale for the study of observation. Only pertinent references should be used.

The selection of observational or experimental subjects (patients or experimental animals, including controls) should be clearly described in the Methods section. The methods, apparatus, and procedures used should be described in enough detail to allow other workers to reproduce the results. References should be provided for established methods, including statistical methods. Methods that are not well known should be concisely described with appropriate references. Any new or substantially modified method(s) should be carefully described, reasons given for its use, and an evaluation made of its known or potential limitations. All drugs and chemicals used should be identified by generic name(s), dosage(s), and route(s) of administration. The numbers of observations and the statistical significance of findings should be included when appropriate. Patients' names, initials, or hospital numbers should not be used.

*Note that when reporting experiments utilizing human subjects, approval of the protocol by the sponsoring Institution's Committee on Human Subjects or its equivalent must be stated explicitly within the Methods section of the manuscript. In addition, the protocol of obtaining informed consent should be briefly described. (See the section on Institutional Review Board requirements below.)

Abstract and Key Words: The abstract should be provided in a structured table format with the following bolded headings: Purpose, Methods, Results and Conclusions. Emphasis should be placed on new and important aspects of the study or observations. Only approved abbreviations are acceptable. Three to 10 key words or short phrases should be identified and placed below the abstract. These key words will be used to assist indexers in cross-indexing the article and will be published with the abstract. For this, terms from the Medical Subject Headings list in the Index Medicus should be used whenever possible.

The abstract should be provided in a structured table format with the following bolded headings: Purpose, Methods, Results and Conclusions. Emphasis should be placed on new and important aspects of the study or observations. Only approved abbreviations are acceptable. Three to 10 key words or short phrases should be identified and placed below the abstract. These key words will be used to assist indexers in cross-indexing the article and will be published with the abstract. For this, terms from the Medical Subject Headings list in the Index Medicus should be used whenever possible.

References: References should be numbered consecutively in the order in which they are first mentioned in the text. References in the text, tables, and legends should be identified by Arabic numerals in square brackets. References cited only in tables or legends to figures should be numbered in accordance with their first identification in the text of a particular table or illustration.

The style and punctuation of the references should follow the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals (prepared by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, and published in Ann Intern Med 1982: 96:766-71; reprints available upon request), as shown in the following examples:

Journal

1. Standard journal article:

Reference should list all authors when three or fewer; when four or more, only the first three should be listed, followed by et al.

Ford CA, Jaccard J, Millstein SG, et al. Young Adults' Attitudes, Beliefs, and Feelings About Testing for Curable STDs Outside of Clinic Settings. J Adolesc Health 2004;34:266-269.

2. Corporate Author:

Center for Health Promotion and Education: Guidelines for effective school health education to prevent the spread of AIDS. J Sch Health 1988;58:142-8.

Books and Monographs

1. Personal Author(s):

Romer D, ed. Reducing Adolescent Risk: Toward an Integrated Approach. Thousand Oaks, California, Sage Publications, 2003.

2. Editor(s) Compiler(s), Chairman as Author(s):

Rosen DS, Rich M, eds. The Adolescent Male. Adolescent Medicine: State of the Art Reviews. Vol 14. Philadelphia, Hanley & Belfus, 2003:3.

3. Chapter in a Book:

Marcell AV, Irwin CE Jr. Adolescent Substance Use and Abuse. In: Finberg L, Kleinman RE, eds. Saunders Manual of Pediatric Practice, 2nd edition. Philadelphia: WB Saunders, 2002:127-139.

4. Agency Publication: America's Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being 2003. Washington, DC: Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics, 2003.

Web site

Bearman PS, Jones J, Udry JR. The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health: Research design [Online]. Available at: http://www.cpc.unc.edu/projects/addhealth/design.html. Accessed February 14, 2000.

An effort should be made to avoid using abstracts as references. Unpublished observations and personal communications are not acceptable as references, although references to written, not verbal, communications may be inserted into the text in parentheses. References to manuscripts accepted but not yet published should designate the journal followed by (in press). Information from manuscripts submitted but not yet accepted for publication may be cited in the text as (unpublished observations). All references must be verified by the authors against the original documents.

Tables: Any tables should be submitted as separate and individual files. Tables should be numbered consecutively, in order of citation in the text. Each table should be given a brief title; explanatory matter should be placed in a table footnote. Any nonstandard abbreviation should be explained in a table footnote. Tables should not rely on vertical lines for clarity or coherence and should contain as few horizontal lines as possible. Statistical measures should be identified as measures of variation such as S.D. or S.E.M. If data from another published or unpublished source are used, permission must be obtained and the source fully acknowledged. EES will accept files from a wide variety of table-creation software.

Figures: Any figures should be submitted as separate and individual files. Letters, and symbols should be clear and even throughout and of sufficient size that when figures are reduced for publication (to approximately 3 inches wide), each item will still be legible. Figures should be numbered consecutively, in order of citation in text. Each figure must have a legend typed in a separate document that you will upload to EES immediately after the illustration that it references. When symbols, arrows, numbers, or letters are used to identify parts of the illustrations, each should be identified and clearly explained in the legend.

The cost of color illustrations must be borne by the author(s).

If photomicrographs are to be submitted, the requirements for their presentation should be obtained from the Editor-in-Chief prior to submission.

If photographs of persons are used, either the subjects must not be identifiable or their pictures must be accompanied by written permission to publish the photograph.

If an illustration has been published, the original source must be acknowledged and accompanied by written permission from the copyright holder to reproduce the material. Permission is required regardless of authorship or publisher except for documents in the public domain.

Guidelines for submitting your illustrations in an electronic format can be found by clicking on Artwork Guidelines at http://www.ees.elsevier.com/JAH/ .

Papers are submitted for review with the understanding that they are being submitted only to the Journal of Adolescent Health. The Journal will not consider for review any paper that has been published elsewhere (with the exception of a published abstract of 500 words or less for a scientific meeting). If the submitted paper contains data that has been previously published, is in press or currently under review by another publication in any format, the authors are required to submit a reprint, a copy of the manuscript to the Editor-in-Chief with a clarification of the overlap and justification for consideration of the current submitted manuscript.

The Corresponding Author must submit individual contributions of each author in a single brief statement.

Authors are required to disclose commercial or similar relationships to products or companies mentioned in or related to the subject matter of the article being submitted. Sources of funding for the article should be acknowledged in a footnote on the title page. Affiliations of authors should include corporate appointments relating to or in connection with products or companies mentioned in the article, or otherwise bearing on the subject matter thereof. Other pertinent financial relationships, such as consultancies, stock ownership or other equity interests or patent-licensing arrangements, should be disclosed to the Editor-in-Chief in the cover letter at the time of submission. Such relationships may be disclosed in the Journal at the discretion of the Editor-in-Chief in footnotes appearing on the title page. Questions about this policy should be directed to the Editor-in-Chief.

All scientific research papers need to document that approval was received from the appropriate institutional review board. When reporting experiments utilizing human subjects, it must be stated in writing, in the Methods section, that the Institution's Committee on Human Subjects or its equivalent has approved the protocol. The protocol of obtaining informed consent should be briefly stated in the manuscript. The Editor-in-Chief may require additional information to clarify the safeguards about the procedures used to obtain informed consent. Within the United States, the authors should verify compliance with the Heath Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPPA) prior to submission. When reporting experiments on animal subjects, it must be stated that the institution's animal care and use committee has approved the protocol.

Authors must immediately disclose to the Journal of Adolescent Health in writing the existence of any investigation or claim related to the manuscript with respect to the use of human or animal subjects that may be initiated by an institutional, regulatory, or official body at any time, including investigations or claims arising subsequent to manuscript submission, approval or publication.

All manuscripts accepted for publication will require a written assignment of the copyright from the author(s) to the Society for Adolescent Medicine. Elsevier Inc. will maintain all records of the copyright for the Society for Adolescent Medicine. No part of the published material may be reproduced elsewhere without written permission from the publisher. If your manuscript is accepted, the editorial office reserves the right to decide whether the final article is published in the print or the online version of the Journal.

Reprints may be ordered prior to publication by using the special reprint order form that accompanies proofs.

Authors will be informed of the date that their manuscript will be available on the Journal of Adolescent Health's website. Until the time of publication on the website, it is a violation of the copyright agreement to disclose the findings of an accepted manuscript to the media or the public before publication in the Journal of Adolescent Health.



Updated July 2009