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Introduction

Public Health in Practice is an international, peer-reviewed, gold open access journal that seeks to improve the health of the public through high-quality actionable evidence. The journal aims to publish international articles focused on the art of translating and implementing public health evidence into practice. Research does not end once results are published. That is just the beginning. Translating research findings or policy to a local context and implementing findings is how we learn about what works and what doesn't. This learning refines our thinking and working practices and will lead to even better research questions, practice and ultimately public health. The journal will publish robust and ethically sound articles of any study type whereby the focus is consistent with our aim. This includes but is not limited to:
  • Public health practice and impact
  • Evaluation of public health policy, programmes or interventions
  • Implementation of programmes or interventions to improve health and/or reduce health inequalities
  • Community engagement to address public health issues Improvement of health, social care services/support and wider determinant services such as education, welfare, employment services to improve public health
  • Applied epidemiology
  • Health protection including control of communicable diseases
  • Prevention of ill health
  • Action across the wider determinants to improve health and/or reduce health inequalities.

Our five core values are: inclusive, multidisciplinary, innovative, international and efficient. The target market of the journal is researchers, practitioners, and policymakers who are engaged in in translating public health evidence into practice.

Aims

Public Health in Practice is an is an international, peer-reviewed, gold open access journal that seeks to improve the health of the public through high-quality actionable evidence. The journal will accept papers from across the broad public health subject area, with a particular focus on public health in practice, emerging topics, and policy debates.

Scope

Public Health in Practice will publish research study types, from study protocols through to meta-analyses, including commentaries and case reports. Whilst research focusing on the practical basis of public health delivery or providing a foundational understanding of theoretical issues in the field is the journal's core interest, robust and ethically sound articles on any public health topic are welcome.

These can include (but are not limited to):

  • Public health practice and impact
  • Evaluation of public health policy, programmes or interventions
  • Implementation of programmes or interventions to improve health and/or reduce health inequalities
  • Community engagement to address public health issues
  • Improvement of health, social care services/support and wider determinant services such as education, welfare, employment services to improve public health
  • Knowledge translation
  • Applied epidemiology
  • Health protection including control of communicable diseases
  • Prevention of ill health
  • Action across the wider determinants to improve health and/or reduce health inequalities.

Papers describing original research impacting on public health practice are particularly encouraged. Fast track publication of suitable articles is possible; please contact the Editorial Office regarding this.

Papers are invited from anywhere in the world, and so authors are asked to ensure that sufficient context is provided for all readers to appreciate their contribution.

The target market of the journal is researchers, practitioners, and policymakers who are engaged in in translating public health evidence into practice.

Types of manuscript considered

Article typeWord lengthTables/figuresReferencesExternally peer reviewed?
Original researchUp to 3000Up to 550Yes
Review articleUp to 3000Up to 5100Yes
Short CommunicationUp rto 1500Up to 110Yes
Study protocolsUp to 3000Up to 530No
LetterUp to 750Up to 15No
Unsolicited commentary800–1500010Yes
Policy and debateUp to 2000Up to 330Yes
Commissioned commentaryUp to 3000Up to 530Yes
Commissioned Policy and DebateUp to 2000Up to 330Yes

On submission, authors should indicate in which category their contribution is to be considered. If authors are uncertain of the category to which their paper is best suited, they should make this clear in their covering letter to the Editors.

Gold Open Access

The Gold Open Access publication fee for this journal is 1268 GBP (USD 1700), excluding taxes. For shorter articles like Case Reports, Short Communications and Commentaries it is 425 GBP (570 USD), excluding taxes. Fellows of the Royal Society for Public Health are also entitled to a discount on this publication fee. Please contact the Editorial Office for more information. Learn more about Elsevier's pricing policy.

Articles published in this journal use a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (CC BY-NC-ND) license. For non-commercial purposes, this allows others distribute and copy the article, and to include in a collective work (such as an anthology), as long as they credit the author(s) and provided they do not alter or modify the article.

If you need to comply with your funding body policy you can apply for a CC BY license after your manuscript is accepted for publication.

Please visit our Open Access page for more information.

Submission process

Papers submitted to Public Health in Practice are carefully reviewed in the first instance by one of the Editors. Papers that do not meet editorial needs; are methodically flawed; or lack originality will be rejected. We will also reject papers that fail to provide sufficient ethical approval where required and we shall refer papers back for revision prior to any review if they do not comply with Journal style.

Papers which pass the Editorial review will be sent out to peer-review and will be reviewed by at least two external reviewers (short communications may only be sent to one reviewer). Reviewers are asked to consider whether the paper: contains new research findings or information; is relevant to public health practice, is technically sound; and is suitably presented.

In the case where an article has been peer review but not published by another journal, the editors may accept this peer review, providing it can be confirmed as genuine, is sufficiently robust and the authors have address the points raised.

How to submit your manuscript

All manuscripts should be submitted online at https://www.editorialmanager.com/PUHIP by clicking on the 'submit paper' link. Authors will first need to register their details and can then submit their paper.

Any author unable to submit online should contact the Editorial Office at [email protected].

Correspondence

The official language of Public Health in Practice is British English. Support may be made available to overseas authors whose first language is not English.

Any correspondence should be sent to the Editorial Office as follows:

The Editors
Public Health in Practice Editorial Office
The Royal Society for Public Health
John Snow House
59 Mansell Street
London E1 8AN
Tel: +44 (0)20 3177 1632
Fax: +44 (0)20 3177 1601
E-mail: [email protected]

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 Article preparation section for more details.

Ensure that the following items are present:

One author has been designated as the corresponding author with contact details:

  • E-mail address
  • Full postal address

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 colour should be used for any figures in print
  • Graphical abstract (where applicable)
  • Supplemental files (where applicable)

Further considerations

  • Manuscript has been 'spell checked' and 'grammar checked'
  • All references mentioned in the Reference List are cited in the text, and vice versa
  • Permission has been obtained for use of copyrighted material from other sources (including the Internet)
  • A competing interests statement is provided, even if the authors have no competing interests to declare
  • Journal policies detailed in this guide have been reviewed
  • Referee suggestions and contact details provided, based on journal requirements
  • Avoid the use of brand names

For further information, visit our Support Center.

Article Preparation

Article types

Article typeWord lengthTables/figuresReferencesExternally peer reviewed?
Original researchUp to 3000Up to 550Yes
Review articleUp to 3000Up to 5100Yes
Short CommunicationUp to 1500Up to 110Yes
Study protocolsUp to 3000Up to 530No
LetterUp to 750Up to 15No
Policy and debateUp to 2000Up to 330Yes
Unsolicited commentary800–1500030Yes
Commissioned commentaryUp to 3000Up to 530Yes

Original research

Papers should be clear, precise and logical and should not normally exceed 3,000 words.

Original research papers should be presented as follows:

  1. Covering letter-the letter must contain: why the submission is appropriate for publication in Public Health in Practice; what is known about the topic discussed; what your study adds; and confirmation that the paper has not been published elsewhere.
  2. Separate title page—bearing title, all authors' initials, surname, main degrees (two only), the name and location of the institution(s) where the work was done and the declaration of interests. The author to whom proofs and correspondence should be sent should be clearly indicated with correct address, e-mail, and telephone.
  3. Blinded manuscript.

Manuscript

Specific formatting details are described below.

  • Abstract (max 300 words) For Research articles this should include: Background (including study aim), Study design, Methods, Results, Conclusions
  • Keywords. 3-6 keywords should follow the abstract
  • What this study adds - up to three bullet points describing what the study adds to the existing evidence base
  • Implications for Policy and Practice - up to three bullet points describing the implications of the study to policy and/or practice
  • Introduction
  • Methods
  • Results
  • Discussion
  • Acknowledgements including declarations: Statements of ethical approval, funding and competing interests
  • References

Clinical trials

Registration in a public trials registry is a condition for publication of clinical trials in this journal in accordance with International Committee of Medical Journal Editors recommendations.

Randomised controlled trials should be presented according to the CONSORT guidelines. At manuscript submission, authors must provide the CONSORT checklist accompanied by a flow diagram that illustrates the progress of patients through the trial, including recruitment, enrollment, randomisation, withdrawal and completion, and a detailed description of the randomisation procedure. The CONSORT checklist and template flow diagram are available online.

Tables and figures

A maximum of 5 tables/figures can appear within the manuscript. Additional tables/figures can be included as online supplementary material. Authors should indicate at approximately what point in the text the table should appear.

Tables must be comprehensible without reference to the text if possible. References can be cited in the tables if needed. Number tables consecutively in accordance with their appearance in the text. Place footnotes to tables below the table body and indicate them with superscript lowercase letters. Avoid vertical rules. Be sparing in the use of tables and ensure that the data presented in tables do not duplicate results described elsewhere in the article.

Figures, graphs, drawings etc. should not be over complex and must be intelligible when reduced in size for printing. They should be on separate sheets, numbered and with legends.

Please note that any costs for reproducing material whose copyright is not held by the authors or the RSPH is to be met by the authors.

Short communications

A short communication is preferred for the submission of important preliminary observations or data that does not warrant publication as a full paper. Short communications should be approximately no more than 1500 words in length and provide adequate information to allow for the same peer review given to other submissions. A short communication can include one table/figure.

Please follow the guidance for original research in the preparation of the manuscript including a structured abstract.

Review papers

Systematic reviews

Systematic Review papers presenting exhaustive, critical assessments of the published literature on relevant public health topics or questions will be considered. Such reviews should be prepared in strict compliance with MOOSE or PRISMA guidelines or with Cochrane's complementary guidelines for systematic reviews of health promotion and public health interventions, as appropriate. Public Health in Practice encourages authors to use alternative databases covering scientific literature from low- and middle-income countries not indexed in the traditional international databases (i.e. Medline, Web of Science). All systematic reviews need to be submitted (as supplementary material) with a completed copy of the guideline checklist that has been used in the preparation of the review.

Narrative reviews

Narrative Review papers will be considered by Public Health in Practice. Whilst no formal guidelines for such reviews exist, authors should be very clear in what criteria they have used for the selection of studies and describe the methods used to undertake the review in the body of the paper. Generally speaking, narrative reviews will only be considered where the author(s) are clearly experts in the research field under consideration or the public health issue under consideration is not amenable to systematic review. The reviews needs to be submitted with a supporting statement justifying the appropriateness of undertaking a narrative review.

Review papers should not normally exceed 3000 words. Reviews can include up to five tables/figures.

Please follow the guidance for original research in the preparation of the manuscript including a structured abstract.

Letters

Readers are encouraged to submit Letters to the Editors that respond to previously published articles.

Authors will be given the opportunity to comment and respond to any correspondence we intend to include in the `Letters to the Editors' regarding their previously published manuscript.

We do not publish letters which do not relate to a previously published article.

Letters should be no more than 750 words and can include one table/figure. An abstract is not required and specific sections, such as methods, discussion etc, should not be used.

Policy and debate

Policy and debate are invited articles to discuss a specific policy topic or ongoing area of debate. They should be written in a balanced manner and make a single argument. Generally they should not include any new data but should have a clear narrative discussing an area of interest.

Articles should be no more than 2000 words with up to three figures or tables. Policy and debate articles are through invite only. If authors wish the editors to consider a topic, please contact [email protected]

Commentaries

These are short pieces on topical matters written by experts in the field. They offer insight and debate.

Unsolicited commentaries (i.e. submitted with prior agreement of the editors) should be no more than 1500 words (no tables/figures).

Commissioned commentaries which have been requested or discussed with the editorial team should be up to 3,000 words.

Study protocols

The publication of study protocols improves the quality of the research undertaken. Protocols can relate to new or on-going studies. They should be written in such a way as to provide a clear rationale for the study, the hypotheses being tested and the methods to be used.

Protocols are considered on an individual basis and will only be considered where other articles relating to the protocol have not yet been published and where the protocol offers new novel insights e.g. complex multi-component studies present new theoretical frameworks. Protocols require full ethical approval in order to be published - include the reviewing body and reference number. Proposed randomised controlled trials must have been registered and the registration quoted in the submission.

We do not publish protocols for review articles (e.g. systematic reviews, scoping reviews).

Study protocols may be up to 3000 words with 5 tables/figures.

Formatting details

Titles

The purpose of the title is to communicate the most important overall conclusion of the paper in a single sentence. Titles should be a statement of the main findings.

For example, instead of: `Investigating the efficacy of financial incentives to stop smoking in pregnancy? use `Financial incentives in pregnancy are effective in stopping smoking?

Generally place names should not be included in the title because it suggests that the findings are limited to a specific context. We ask authors to ensure that learning from local areas is abstracted to a high enough level to ensure it is accessible to an international audience.

Titles should be specific to ensure that the study is easily discoverable.

Titles should comply with reporting guidelines, such as PRISMA reporting guidelines.

Text

It is important that the file be saved in the native format of the word processor used. The text should be in single-column format. Keep the layout of the text as simple as possible. Most formatting codes will be removed and replaced on processing the article. In particular, do not use the word processor's options to justify text or to hyphenate words. However, do use bold face, italics, subscripts, superscripts etc. When preparing tables, if you are using a table grid, use only one grid for each individual table and not a grid for each row. If no grid is used, use tabs, not spaces, to align columns. The electronic text should be prepared in a way very similar to that of conventional manuscripts (see also the Guide to Publishing with Elsevier). Note that source files of figures, tables and text graphics will be required whether or not you embed your figures in the text. See also the section on Electronic artwork.

To avoid unnecessary errors you are strongly advised to use the 'spell-check' and 'grammar-check' functions of your word processor.

Graphical abstract

Although a graphical abstract is optional, its use is encouraged as it draws more attention to the online article. The graphical abstract should summarise the contents of the article in a concise, pictorial form designed to capture the attention of a wide readership. Graphical abstracts should be submitted as a separate file in the online submission system. Image size: Please provide an image with a minimum of 531 × 1328 pixels (h × w) or proportionally more. The image should be readable at a size of 5 × 13 cm using a regular screen resolution of 96 dpi. Preferred file types: TIFF, EPS, PDF or MS Office files. You can view Example Graphical Abstracts on our information site.

Acknowledgements

Collate acknowledgements in a separate section at the end of the article before the references and do not, therefore, include them on the title page, as a footnote to the title or otherwise. List here those individuals who provided help during the research (e.g., providing language help, writing assistance or proof reading the article, etc.).

Formatting of funding sources

List funding sources in this standard way to facilitate compliance to funder's requirements:

Funding: This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health [grant numbers xxxx, yyyy]; the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Seattle, WA [grant number zzzz]; and the United States Institutes of Peace [grant number aaaa].

It is not necessary to include detailed descriptions on the program or type of grants and awards. When funding is from a block grant or other resources available to a university, college, or other research institution, submit the name of the institute or organization that provided the funding.

If no funding has been provided for the research, please include the following sentence:

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Artwork

Electronic artwork

A detailed guide on electronic artwork is available.

Formats
If your electronic artwork is created in a Microsoft Office application (Word, PowerPoint, Excel) then please supply 'as is' in the native document format.

Regardless of the application used other than Microsoft Office, when your electronic artwork is finalized, please 'Save as' or convert the images to one of the following formats (note the resolution requirements for line drawings, halftones, and line/halftone combinations given below):
EPS (or PDF): Vector drawings, embed all used fonts.
TIFF (or JPEG): Colour or grayscale photographs (halftones), keep to a minimum of 300 dpi.
TIFF (or JPEG): Bitmapped (pure black & white pixels) line drawings, keep to a minimum of 1000 dpi.
TIFF (or JPEG): Combinations bitmapped line/half-tone (colour or grayscale), keep to a minimum of 500 dpi.

Please do not:

  • Supply files that are optimized for screen use (e.g., GIF, BMP, PICT, WPG); these typically have a low number of pixels and limited set of colours;
  • Supply files that are too low in resolution;
  • Submit graphics that are disproportionately large for the content.

Colour artwork

Please make sure that artwork files are in an acceptable format (TIFF (or JPEG), EPS (or PDF), or MS Office files) and with the correct resolution. Further information on the preparation of electronic artwork.

References

Citation in text

Please ensure that every reference cited in the text is also present in the reference list (and vice versa). Any references cited in the abstract must be given in full. Unpublished results and personal communications are not recommended in the reference list, but may be mentioned in the text. If these references are included in the reference list they should follow the standard reference style of the journal and should include a substitution of the publication date with either 'Unpublished results' or 'Personal communication'. Citation of a reference as 'in press' implies that the item has been accepted for publication.

Reference style

Users of Mendeley Desktop can easily install the reference style for this journal by clicking the following link: https://open.mendeley.com/use-citation-style/public-health. When preparing your manuscript, you will then be able to select this style using the Mendeley plug-ins for Microsoft Word or LibreOffice.

Indicate references by superscript numbers in the text. The actual authors can be referred to, but the reference number(s) must always be given.
Number the references in the list in the order in which they appear in the text.

Examples:
Reference to a journal publication:
1. Van der Geer J, Hanraads JAJ, Lupton RA. The art of writing a scientific article. J Sci Commun 2010;163:51-9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.Sc.2010.00372.
Reference to a journal publication with an article number:
2. Van der Geer J, Hanraads JAJ, Lupton RA. The art of writing a scientific article. Heliyon. 2018;19:e00205. https://doi.org/j.heliyon.2018.e00205.
Reference to a book:
3. Strunk Jr W, White EB. The elements of style. 4th ed. New York: Longman; 2000.
Reference to a chapter in an edited book:
4. Mettam GR, Adams LB. How to prepare an electronic version of your article. In: Jones BS, Smith RZ, editors. Introduction to the electronic age, New York: E-Publishing Inc; 2009, p. 281-304.
Reference to a website:
5. Cancer Research UK. Cancer statistics reports for the UK, http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/aboutcancer/statistics/cancerstatsreport/; 2003 [accessed 13 March 2003].
Reference to a dataset:
[dataset] 6. Oguro M, Imahiro S, Saito S, Nakashizuka T. Mortality data for Japanese oak wilt disease and surrounding forest compositions, Mendeley Data, v1; 2015. https://doi.org/10.17632/xwj98nb39r.1.

Note shortened form for last page number. e.g., 51-9, and that for more than 6 authors the first 6 should be listed followed by 'et al.' For further details you are referred to 'Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts submitted to Biomedical Journals' (J Am Med Assoc 1997;277:927-34) (see also Samples of Formatted References).

Data visualisation

Include interactive data visualizations in your publication and let your readers interact and engage more closely with your research. Follow the instructions here to find out about available data visualization options and how to include them with your article.

Research data

This journal encourages and enables you to share data that supports your research publication (where appropriate) and enables you to interlink the data with your published articles. Research data refers to the results of observations or experimentation that validate research findings. To facilitate reproducibility and data reuse, this journal also encourages you to share your software, code, models, algorithms, protocols, methods and other useful materials related to the project.

Below are a number of ways in which you can associate data with your article or make a statement about the availability of your data when submitting your manuscript. If you are sharing data in one of these ways, you are encouraged to cite the data in your manuscript and reference list. Please refer to the "References" section for more information about data citation. For more information on depositing, sharing and using research data and other relevant research materials, visit the research data page.

Data linking

If you have made your research data available in a data repository, you can link your article directly to the dataset. Elsevier collaborates with a number of repositories to link articles on ScienceDirect with relevant repositories, giving readers access to underlying data that gives them a better understanding of the research described.

There are different ways to link your datasets to your article. When available, you can directly link your dataset to your article by providing the relevant information in the submission system. For more information, visit the database linking page.

For supported data repositories a repository banner will automatically appear next to your published article on ScienceDirect.

In addition, you can link to relevant data or entities through identifiers within the text of your manuscript, using the following format: Database: xxxx (e.g., TAIR: AT1G01020; CCDC: 734053; PDB: 1XFN).

Mendeley Data

This journal supports Mendeley Data, enabling you to deposit any research data (including raw and processed data, video, code, software, algorithms, protocols, and methods) associated with your manuscript in a free-to-use, open access repository. During the submission process, after uploading your manuscript, you will have the opportunity to upload your relevant datasets directly to Mendeley Data. The datasets will be listed and directly accessible to readers next to your published article online.

For more information, visit the Mendeley Data for journals page.

Data statement

To foster transparency, we encourage you to state the availability of your data in your submission. This may be a requirement of your funding body or institution. If your data is unavailable to access or unsuitable to post, you will have the opportunity to indicate why during the submission process, for example by stating that the research data is confidential. The statement will appear with your published article on ScienceDirect. For more information, visit the Data Statement page.

Further queries

Visit the Elsevier Support Center to find the answers you need. Here you will find everything from Frequently Asked Questions to ways to get in touch.

You can also check the status of your submitted article or find out when your accepted article will be published.

Ethics in publishing

Please see our information on Ethics in publishing.

Peer review

This journal operates a double blind review process. All contributions will be initially assessed by the Editor-in-Chief or Associate Editor for suitability for the journal. Papers deemed suitable are then typically sent to a minimum of two independent expert reviewers to assess the scientific quality of the paper (unless otherwise stated in the Article types section). The Editorial team is responsible for the final decision regarding acceptance or rejection of articles. The Editors decision is final. Editors are not involved in decisions about papers that they have written themselves or have been written by family members or colleagues or which relate to products or services in which the editor has an interest. Any such submission is subject to all of the journal's usual procedures, with peer review handled independently of the relevant editor and their research groups. More information on types of peer review.

Human rights

Public Health in Practice is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), for more information please visit https://publicationethics.org.

Papers describing research including human subjects will not be considered if ethical approval has not been sought.

The manuscript should contain a statement that the work has been approved by the appropriate ethical committees related to the institution(s) in which it was performed and that subjects gave informed consent to the work.

Studies on patients or volunteers require ethics committee approval and informed consent which should be documented in your paper. Patients have a right to privacy. Therefore identifying information, including patients images, names, initials, or hospital numbers, should not be included in videos, recordings, written descriptions, photographs, and pedigrees unless the information is essential for scientific purposes and you have obtained written informed consent for publication in print and electronic form from the patient (or parent, guardian or next of kin where applicable). If such consent is made subject to any conditions, Elsevier must be made aware of all such conditions. Written consents must be provided to Elsevier on request. Even where consent has been given, identifying details should be omitted if they are not essential. 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. If such consent has not been obtained, personal details of patients included in any part of the paper and in any supplementary materials (including all illustrations and videos) must be removed before submission.

Declaration of competing interests

All authors must disclose any financial and personal relationships with other people or organizations that could inappropriately influence (bias) their work. Examples of potential competing interests include employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, paid expert testimony, patent applications/registrations, and grants or other funding. Authors must disclose any interests as a summary declaration of interest statement in the title page file and as a separate document in the submission process. If there are no interests to declare then please state this: 'Declarations of interest: none'. This summary statement will be ultimately published if the article is accepted. Public Health in Practice will not consider manuscripts that have been supported either directly or indirectly by tobacco companies.

Declaration of competing interests

Plagiarism

Submission of an article implies that the work described has not been published previously (except in the form of an abstract, a published lecture or academic thesis, see 'Multiple, redundant or concurrent publication' for more information), that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere, that its publication is approved by all authors and tacitly or explicitly by the responsible authorities where the work was carried out, and that, if accepted, it will not be published elsewhere in the same form, in English or in any other language, including electronically without the written consent of the copyright-holder. To verify originality, your article may be checked by the originality detection service Crossref Similarity Check.

Declaration of competing interests

Declaration of Generative AI in scientific writing

The below guidance only refers to the writing process, and not to the use of AI tools to analyse and draw insights from data as part of the research process.

Where authors use generative artificial intelligence (AI) and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process, authors should only use these technologies to improve readability and language. Applying the technology should be done with human oversight and control, and authors should carefully review and edit the result, as AI can generate authoritative-sounding output that can be incorrect, incomplete or biased. AI and AI-assisted technologies should not be listed as an author or co-author, or be cited as an author. Authorship implies responsibilities and tasks that can only be attributed to and performed by humans, as outlined in Elsevier's AI policy for authors.

Authors should disclose in their manuscript the use of AI and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process by following the instructions below. A statement will appear in the published work. Please note that authors are ultimately responsible and accountable for the contents of the work.

Disclosure instructions

Authors must disclose the use of generative AI and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process by adding a statement at the end of their manuscript in the core manuscript file, before the References list. The statement should be placed in a new section entitled 'Declaration of Generative AI and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process'.

Statement: During the preparation of this work the author(s) used [NAME TOOL / SERVICE] in order to [REASON]. After using this tool/service, the author(s) reviewed and edited the content as needed and take(s) full responsibility for the content of the publication.

This declaration does not apply to the use of basic tools for checking grammar, spelling, references etc. If there is nothing to disclose, there is no need to add a statement.

Preprints

Please note that preprints can be shared anywhere at any time, in line with Elsevier's sharing policy. Sharing your preprints e.g. on a preprint server will not count as prior publication (see 'Multiple, redundant or concurrent publication' for more information).

Use of inclusive language

Inclusive language acknowledges diversity, conveys respect to all people, is sensitive to differences, and promotes equal opportunities. Content should make no assumptions about the beliefs or commitments of any reader; contain nothing which might imply that one individual is superior to another on the grounds of age, gender, race, ethnicity, culture, sexual orientation, disability or health condition; and use inclusive language throughout. Authors should ensure that writing is free from bias, stereotypes, slang, reference to dominant culture and/or cultural assumptions. We advise to seek gender neutrality by using plural nouns ("clinicians, patients/clients") as default/wherever possible to avoid using "he, she," or "he/she." We recommend avoiding the use of descriptors that refer to personal attributes such as age, gender, race, ethnicity, culture, sexual orientation, disability or health condition unless they are relevant and valid. These guidelines are meant as a point of reference to help identify appropriate language but are by no means exhaustive or definitive.

Reporting sex- and gender-based analyses

Reporting guidance
For research involving or pertaining to humans, animals or eukaryotic cells, investigators should integrate sex and gender-based analyses (SGBA) into their research design according to funder/sponsor requirements and best practices within a field. Authors should address the sex and/or gender dimensions of their research in their article. In cases where they cannot, they should discuss this as a limitation to their research's generalizability. Importantly, authors should explicitly state what definitions of sex and/or gender they are applying to enhance the precision, rigor and reproducibility of their research and to avoid ambiguity or conflation of terms and the constructs to which they refer (see Definitions section below). Authors can refer to the Sex and Gender Equity in Research (SAGER) guidelines and the SAGER guidelines checklist. These offer systematic approaches to the use and editorial review of sex and gender information in study design, data analysis, outcome reporting and research interpretation - however, please note there is no single, universally agreed-upon set of guidelines for defining sex and gender.

Definitions
Sex generally refers to a set of biological attributes that are associated with physical and physiological features (e.g., chromosomal genotype, hormonal levels, internal and external anatomy). A binary sex categorization (male/female) is usually designated at birth ("sex assigned at birth"), most often based solely on the visible external anatomy of a newborn. Gender generally refers to socially constructed roles, behaviors, and identities of women, men and gender-diverse people that occur in a historical and cultural context and may vary across societies and over time. Gender influences how people view themselves and each other, how they behave and interact and how power is distributed in society. Sex and gender are often incorrectly portrayed as binary (female/male or woman/man) and unchanging whereas these constructs actually exist along a spectrum and include additional sex categorizations and gender identities such as people who are intersex/have differences of sex development (DSD) or identify as non-binary. Moreover, the terms "sex" and "gender" can be ambiguous-thus it is important for authors to define the manner in which they are used. In addition to this definition guidance and the SAGER guidelines, the resources on this page offer further insight around sex and gender in research studies.

Contributors

Each author is required to declare his or her individual contribution to the article: all authors must have materially participated in the research and/or article preparation, so roles for all authors should be described. The statement that all authors have approved the final article should be true and included in the disclosure.

Authorship

All authors should have made substantial contributions to all of the following: (1) the conception and design of the study, or acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data, (2) drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content, (3) final approval of the version to be submitted.

Changes to authorship

Authors are expected to consider carefully the list and order of authors before submitting their manuscript and provide the definitive list of authors at the time of the original submission. Any addition, deletion or rearrangement of author names in the authorship list should be made only before the manuscript has been accepted and only if approved by the journal Editor. To request such a change, the Editor must receive the following from the corresponding author: (a) the reason for the change in author list and (b) written confirmation (e-mail, letter) from all authors that they agree with the addition, removal or rearrangement. In the case of addition or removal of authors, this includes confirmation from the author being added or removed.

Only in exceptional circumstances will the Editor consider the addition, deletion or rearrangement of authors after the manuscript has been accepted. While the Editor considers the request, publication of the manuscript will be suspended. If the manuscript has already been published in an online issue, any requests approved by the Editor will result in a corrigendum.

Author rights

As an author you (or your employer or institution) have certain rights to reuse your work. More information.

Responsible sharing

Find out how you can share your research published in Elsevier journals.

Language (usage and editing services)

Please write your text in good English (British usage). Authors who feel their English language manuscript may require editing to eliminate possible grammatical or spelling errors and to conform to correct scientific English may wish to use the English Language Editing service available from Elsevier's Author Services.

Author guidelines: After acceptance

Online proof correction

To ensure a fast publication process of the article, we kindly ask authors to provide us with their proof corrections within two days. Corresponding authors will receive an e-mail with a link to our online proofing system, allowing annotation and correction of proofs online. The environment is similar to MS Word: in addition to editing text, you can also comment on figures/tables and answer questions from the Copy Editor. Web-based proofing provides a faster and less error-prone process by allowing you to directly type your corrections, eliminating the potential introduction of errors.

If preferred, you can still choose to annotate and upload your edits on the PDF version. All instructions for proofing will be given in the e-mail we send to authors, including alternative methods to the online version and PDF.

We will do everything possible to get your article published quickly and accurately. Please use this proof only for checking the typesetting, editing, completeness and correctness of the text, tables and figures. Significant changes to the article as accepted for publication will only be considered at this stage with permission from the Editor. It is important to ensure that all corrections are sent back to us in one communication. Please check carefully before replying, as inclusion of any subsequent corrections cannot be guaranteed. Proofreading is solely your responsibility.

Further queries

Visit the Elsevier Support Center to find the answers you need. Here you will find everything from Frequently Asked Questions to ways to get in touch.

You can also check the status of your submitted article or find out when your accepted article will be published.