Instructions to Authors

Thank you for choosing to submit your paper to the Journal of Interventional Epidemiology and Public Health (JIEPH). Please take time to read and follow these instructions, which have been revised as of December 2024. Complete guidelines for preparing and submitting your manuscript to JIEPH are provided below.

A copy of the Instructions for Authors can be downloaded here

Table of Contents

• Scope
• Article Categories
• Submission
• Initial Screening
• Peer Review and Publication Process
• Publication
• Authorship
  • Joint First Authorship
• Article Processing Charge and Open Access
• Correction
• Retraction
• Appeals and Complaints Policy
• Style and Formats
  • File Formats
  • Style and Font
  • Footnotes
• Language
• Abbreviations
• Nomenclature
• Conflict of Interest
• Copyright
• Patient Consent
• Reporting Guidelines
• Reference Style
• Article Categories and Guidelines
• Preparation of Tables
• Preparation of Figures
• Submit Your Manuscript
  • New Submission Checklist
  • Submission of Revision Checklist

Scope

JIEPH publishes original research, reviews, and short reports in all areas of public health, with a specific focus on interventional field epidemiology. We welcome meta-analyses, novel hypotheses and approaches. JIEPH also publishes special issues (supplements) on public health-related issues and events. We give special consideration to papers from Field Epidemiology Training Programs (FETPs) and Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training Programs (FELTPs) as well as other applied public health training programs in Africa and other parts of the world. We also accept work done by Ministries of Health, Agriculture, Environment, Water and Sanitation, universities, health services institutes, laboratories and other national and international partners like UN agencies and regional health organizations, local and international NGOs and individual researchers in relevant subject areas.

Article Categories

JIEPH publishes the following categories of articles in regular and special issues (supplements). More details are provided in the respective sections

1. Original Research / Full research article
2. Outbreak Investigation
3. Protocols
4. Systematic reviews and Meta-analysis
5. Letter to the Editor
6. Commentaries
7. Perspective
8. Scoping or narrative reviews
9. Lesson from the field
10. Short Article / Communication
11. Briefs
12. Opinion
13. Editorial
14. Meeting Report
15. Conference Proceedings

Manuscript Preparation

Formatting

• Font: Use Calisto MT or Times New Roman, size 10, double-spaced, with a single-column layout.
• Language: Manuscripts must be in English (or French for special issues). Proofread thoroughly for grammar and clarity.
• Abbreviations: Define all abbreviations on first use and list non-standard abbreviations in a separate section at the end.

Title Page

The manuscript title page should include:

• Full title (≤20 words) indicating study type or location, if applicable.
• Short title (≤10 words).
• Names and affiliations of all authors
• The names should be in the format: First Name Middle Name Last Name,
• The affiliations should include Department, Institution, City, and Country.
• Corresponding author and the corresponding author’s contact information.
• Abstract
• Abstracts must be concise (structured or unstructured, ≤350 words depending on article type).
• Structured format: Introduction, Methods, Results, and Conclusion.
• Avoid using acronyms or sentences copied verbatim from the manuscript.
• Keywords (3–5).
• Word count for the abstract and main text (excluding references and tables).

Main Manuscript without author details as a separate document

Manuscripts should follow this structure:

1. Introduction: Context, problem statement, and study objectives.
2. Methods: Study design, data collection, and analysis. Use subheadings as needed.
3. Results: Key findings with tables/figures referenced in the text.
4. Discussion: Interpretation of results, comparison with previous work, and study limitations.
5. Conclusion: Summary of key findings and implications.
6. Acknowledgements: Contributions from non-authors, funding sources, and ethical approvals.
7. Competing Interests: Declare any conflicts of interest (or state “none declared”).
8. Author contribution.
9. Funding information.
10. What is already known about the topic (3 – 5 bullet sentences).
11. What this topic adds (3 – 5 bullet sentences).

Figures and Tables

Figures

• Upload high-resolution images separately in PNG/JPEG formats.
• Add a copy of the figures at the end of the manuscript with a descriptive legend.
• Ensure proper scaling and clarity (minimum resolution: 300 dpi).
• Ensure every figure is cited within the manuscript.

Tables

• Include tables at the end of the manuscript, each fitting on a single page.
• Provide concise titles and legends.
• Ensure every table is cited within the manuscript.

Submission

Any manuscript, or substantial parts of it, submitted to JIEPH must not be under consideration by any other journal at the same period it is under consideration in JIEPH. The manuscript should not have already been published in any journal or other citation form, with the exception that the journal is willing to consider peer-reviewing manuscripts that are translations of articles originally published in another language. In this case, the consent of the journal in which the article was originally published must be obtained, and the fact that the article has already been published must be made clear on submission and stated in the abstract. Authors who publish in JIEPH retain copyright to their work.

Initial Screening

Manuscripts submitted to JIEPH are initially screened by editors for adherence to the journal's instructions and scientific soundness. Manuscripts may be rejected, either directly by the Editor or in consultation with peer reviewers. The following are possible grounds for rejection:

1. The manuscript includes text published elsewhere without proper citations. This applies equally to self-plagiarism, references not correctly linked, up-to-date, or relevant.
2. The paper has previously been published and lacks scientific originality.
3. The manuscript is out of scope for JIEPH’s focus.
4. The manuscript does not identify evidence gaps which show the need for work in the area.
5. The authors have not explained the significance, importance, or added value of their work. The manuscript does not include a specific research question, hypothesis, or a clear statement of purpose or intent.
6. The authors have not justified or clearly explained their reasons for the choice of methods as the best way of addressing the stated aims and objectives. The methods and analyses are not sufficiently transparent or reproducible. There are major flaws in the study design.
7. The study does not use the most recent or best available data, and the authors do not present a justification for using historical material.
8. The study uses primary data collected by local researcher(s) in low- or middle-income countries but the paper does not include local researchers as co-authors. Exceptions may apply if the study involves a secondary analysis from an open-access data source.
9. The manuscript is incorrectly structured.
10. There is evidence of plagiarism, or the similarity index is higher than 20%.

Peer Review and Publication Process

JIEPH is committed to adhering to the highest ethical standards in the peer review of scientific manuscripts. After the editor’s initial screening of your manuscript, if it is found suitable and within the journal’s scope, your manuscript is assigned a manuscript number, and a handling editor is invited to handle your manuscript through the peer review process. JIEPH uses an online double-blind peer review process. Submitted manuscripts are sent to peer reviewers unless they are either out of scope or do not meet the stipulated standards for the journal. All the article types except the editorials and letters to the editor pass through the peer review process. A minimum of two peer review reports from experts actively publishing in the same fields are required to make a decision. Where the reviewers return discordant recommendations, additional reviewers are invited to submit review reports. The handling editor in certain circumstances, can serve as the third reviewer. When a decision is reached, the paper is revised, rejected or accepted. The final decision on each manuscript lies with the Managing Editor. A manuscript can pass through multiple rounds of revisions and can be rejected at any point in the peer review process. More detailed information on the peer review process is available at The JIEPH Peer Review Policy.

Publication

Each manuscript accepted for publication in JIEPH will be available on the JIEPH website as a browseable HTML and in PDF format.

After a manuscript is published, JIEPH editors will not accept requests to change the order of authors, add new authors, or remove authors. Requests to make intensive and extensive changes anywhere in the text will be declined. Authors are encouraged to publish an erratum or corrigendum instead.

Peer reviewers can make one of the following recommendations for editors to consider:

• Accept manuscript (i.e., no need for any revision);
• Minor revision (i.e., can be accepted after minor revisions have been made);
• Major revision (i.e., can be accepted or rejected after major revisions have been made; the manuscript may be sent for another round of peer review);
• Reject manuscript (i.e., the manuscript is sub-standard; the current submission will be closed).

Reviewers can ask authors to consider their comments, strengthen arguments based on existing data, or identify areas where more data are needed. If the English language and writing style is poor and the expression is not logical and coherent, this alone can be grounds for a revision. All authors are asked to have their manuscripts checked and edited for grammar, punctuation, tense, spelling, and typological errors.

To facilitate rapid publication, authors are usually given two weeks for minor revisions and four weeks for major revisions. Two-week extensions may be granted upon request if there are ‘reasonable grounds’. If authors do not comply with time frames, editors may reject manuscripts.

Some manuscripts undergo more than one round of peer review and revision before the Editor makes the final decision.

Authorship

The uniform requirement for manuscript support to biomedical journals (URM) of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICJME) recommends the following criteria for authorship (learn more about the URM on authorship and contributorship).

Authorship credits should be based on:

• Substantial contributions to conception and design, acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data;
• Drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content; and
• Final approval of the version to be published.

Authors should meet conditions 1, 2, and 3.

When a large multicenter group has conducted the work, the group should identify the individuals who accept direct responsibility for the manuscript. These individuals should fully meet the criteria for authorship/contributorship defined above, and editors will ask these individuals to complete journal-specific author and conflict-of-interest disclosure forms. When submitting a manuscript authored by a group, the corresponding author should clearly indicate the preferred citation and identify all individual authors as well as the group name. Journals generally list other members of the group in the acknowledgements.

Acquisition of funding, collection of data, or general supervision of research groups alone does not constitute authorship. All persons designated as authors should qualify for authorship, and all those who qualify should be listed. Each author should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the content.

Submission of a manuscript to JIEPH implies that all authors have read and agreed to its content and that any research that is reported in the manuscript has been performed with the approval of an appropriate ethics committee.

Joint First Authorship

Joint first authors can be indicated by the inclusion of the statement “# and # contributed equally to this paper” in the author’s contribution followed by a detailed description of each first author’s role. At the moment, JIEPH allows for a maximum of two joint first authors

Article Processing Charge and Open Access

JIEPH does not charge any fees to authors to publish in the journal. This includes submission charges, article processing charges, publication charges, page charges etc. JIEPH does not charge the readers an access fee to read the articles. Articles published in JIEPH are available immediately to all readers anywhere. There is no embargo period.

Correction

We work closely with authors to make what we publish error-free. When an article is published, the corresponding author receives an email and a correction request sheet, which can be used to submit corrections to our online proof-checking system if necessary. In each case, we ensure that corrections are handled timeously. All corrections are handled by the editor assigned to the article. All other changes requested will be reviewed by the editorial team for appropriateness. Once a manuscript is published, authors can request changes for; grammatical and orthographic errors, errors in the spelling of author names or affiliations, and invalid or non-readable characters.

Retraction

Retractions are considered by the JIEPH editorial office after assessing evidence of unreliable data or findings, plagiarism, duplicate publication, and unethical research practices. The JIEPH editorial office may consider an expression of concern notice if an article is under investigation.

When a retraction notice is published in JIEPH, the retracted article and the PDF are watermarked with “retracted article” before the notice is submitted for indexation on PubMed and other article databases where JIEPH content is deposited. Depending on the nature of the retraction, authors may also be banned from publishing in JIEPH for up to five (5) years.

JIEPH follows the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) International standards for editors and authors [1] and COPE guidelines on investigating scientific misconduct. JIEPH also follows the ICMJE recommendations:

• Kleinert S & Wager E (2011) Responsible research publication: international standards for editors. A position statement developed at the 2nd World Conference on Research Integrity, Singapore, July 22-24, 2010. Chapter 51 in: Mayer T & Steneck N (eds) Promoting Research Integrity in a Global Environment. Imperial College Press / World Scientific Publishing, Singapore (pp 317-28). (ISBN 978-981-4340-97-7)

Appeals and Complaints Policy

If you wish to appeal the decision on your manuscript, you should send a letter of appeal to the Editor-in-Chief (EIC) / Managing Editor of JIEPH at complaints@afenet-journal.net. The appeal must be filed within three months of receiving the final decision letter. The letter of appeal should be two pages or less, in Word or PDF form, and should have three parts:

• A description of the specific error that was made.
• Evidence from the decision letter that this particular error was the difference between the paper being rejected and not being rejected.
• Conclusive evidence that the specific error identified was, in fact, an error.

The EIC will review the letter of appeal and will respond with a decision about whether to accept or reject the appeal. The EIC may seek the input of outside experts, including members of the journal’s advisory board or former editors. The EIC’s decision is final. If an author submits an appeal that is subsequently rejected, that author forfeits the opportunity to submit any new appeals for the duration of the EIC’s term. If the appeal is accepted, the EIC will decide on an appropriate disposition of the manuscript, which may be to accept or conditionally accept the manuscript, to request further revision, or to solicit an additional review.

Style and Formats

File Formats

The title page and main manuscript document should be presented as a Microsoft Word document (DOC, DOCX). The pictures, maps, microscopic diagrams, field pictures or illustrations should be uploaded preferably in JPEG, PNG format or any other image format. The images should not be manipulated or distorted as that might result in the rejection of the paper. The database can be uploaded in CSV or xlsx format or the link to the public repository where it is already stored.

Style and Font

The manuscript should be prepared using Calisto MT font size 10 in double spacing. Manuscript should not be formatted in multiple columns. Please do not include line numbers as this will be included automatically in your file during the submission and preparation of your document by the system.

Footnotes

Footnotes are not permitted. If your manuscript contains footnotes, move the text to the body of the manuscript and the reference list, depending on the content

Language

JIEPH currently publishes all regular issues in English. Special issues (supplements) are currently published in English and French only. We are building the capacity to publish in more languages and will communicate with our clients as we make progress in this regard.

Abbreviations

Define abbreviations upon the first appearance in the text. Do not use non-standard abbreviations unless they appear at least three times in the text. List all the non-standard abbreviations with definitions in alphabetical order in a separate section at the end of the manuscript. Keep abbreviations to a minimum.

Equations

We recommend using MathType for display and inline equations, as it will provide the most reliable outcome. Equation editor or Microsoft Equation function are also acceptable.

Nomenclature

Use correct and established nomenclature wherever possible. Use the SI units for the Units of measurement. If you have not used these exclusively, provide the SI value in parentheses after each value.

Drugs: Provide the Recommended International Non-Proprietary Name (rINN).

Species names: Write in italics (e.g., Homo sapiens). Write out in full the genus and species, both in the title of the manuscript and at the first mention of an organism in a paper. After the first mention, the first letter of the genus name followed by the full species name may be used (e.g., H. sapiens).

Genes, mutations, genotypes, and alleles: Write in italics. Use the recommended name by consulting the appropriate genetic nomenclature databases (e.g., HUGO for human genes). It is sometimes advisable to indicate the synonyms for the gene the first time it appears in the text. Gene prefixes such as those used for oncogenes or cellular localization should be shown in Roman typeface (e.g., v-fes, c_MYC).

Allergens: The systematic allergen nomenclature of the World Health Organization/International Union of Immunological Societies (WHO/IUIS) Allergen Nomenclature Sub-committee should be used for manuscripts that include the description of the use of allergenic proteins. For manuscripts describing new allergens, the systematic name of the allergen should be approved by the WHO/IUIS Allergen Nomenclature Sub-committee prior to manuscript publication. Examples of the systematic allergen nomenclature can be found at the WHO/IUIS Allergen Nomenclature site

Conflict of Interest

JIEPH requires authors to declare all competing interests in relation to their work. All submitted manuscripts must include a “Competing interest” section listing all competing interests (financial and non-financial). Where authors have no competing interests, the statement should read, “The author(s) declare(s) that they have no competing interests.” The editor may ask for further information relating to competing interests.

At the time of submission, authors must list all competing interests relevant to the submitted research. Examples may include but are not limited to:

• Names of all funding sources
• Description of the funder’s role in the study design, collection, analysis, and interpretation of data, writing of the paper and/or decision to submit for publication
• Whether they have served or currently serve on the editorial board of the journal to which they are submitting
• Whether they have acted as an expert witness in relevant legal proceedings
• Whether they have sat or currently sit on a committee for an organization that may benefit from the publication of the paper

We ask authors of JIEPH papers to complete a declaration of competing interest, which should be provided as a separate section of the manuscript.

Copyright

JIEPH Content Licensing: Articles published in JIEPH are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons by Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The author(s) keep(s) the copyright to his/their article if and when it is accepted for publication. The copyright covers the exclusive and unlimited rights to reproduce and distribute the article in any form of reproduction (printing, electronic media, or any other form); it also covers translation rights for all languages and countries.

Permissions

Verbatim material or illustrations taken from other published sources must accompanied by a written statement from the author, and from the publisher if holding the copyright, giving permission to JIEPH for reproduction.

Patient Consent

All articles that include information or clinical photographs relating to individual patients, written and signed informed consent from each patient to publish must also be submitted to the editorial office. The manuscript should also include a statement to this effect in the acknowledgements section as follows: “Written consent for publication was obtained from the patient or legal guardian”

Reporting Guidelines

Manuscripts should use the relevant reporting guideline for the type of study while preparing the manuscripts. A list of the reporting guidelines can be found on the Equator Network website http://www.equator-network.org.

Reference Style

Journal reference type: JIEPH references using the National Library of Medicine (brackets, no et al) 2nd Edition with DOIs where available.

Article Categories and Guidelines

Research Articles

Maximum 3500 words in main text (excluding abstract, references, legends, tables, and figures)

• 4 tables/figures maximum
• Structured abstract of 350 words
• Up to 50 references
• Must include: Acknowledgments, Competing Interests, Authors' contributions, What is already known on this topic, and What this study adds

Review Articles

Maximum 5000 words

• Accepts: narrative reviews, scoping reviews, syntheses, systematic reviews and meta-analyses
• PRISMA checklist encouraged as supporting information
• Usually solicited; unsolicited Reviews may be considered
• Consult Editors before writing

Outbreak Investigation Report

Maximum 2,000 words in main text (excluding abstract, references and legends)

• Up to 10 references
• Maximum 2 illustrations (tables or figures or one of each)

Letters to the Editors

Maximum 800 words in main text

• No abstract
• Limited to 10 references
• Comments on Journal articles or noteworthy public health advances

Commentaries

Maximum 2,500 words in main text

• 2 tables/figures
• Unstructured abstract of 120 words

Briefs

Maximum 800 words in main text

• 2 tables/figures
• Abstract up to 80 words
• Maximum 15 references
• Structure: Abstract, Competing interests, Authors' contributions, Acknowledgments, Tables and figures, References

Editorial

Maximum 3000 words

• Written by or on behalf of editors
• Usually solicited
• Contact editorial office for submission

Opinion

Personal opinion on a subject of interest

• Structure: Abstract, Opinion, Competing interests, References
• Maximum 5 references
• May be solicited or unsolicited

Perspective

Personal perspective on a clinical or public health topic

• Non-technical document
• Use first person
• Structure: Abstract (Unstructured), Perspective, Authors' Contributions, Acknowledgments, References

Lessons from the Field

Maximum 3000 words in main text

• Includes abstract and references
• Main text format flexible

Short Article

Maximum 1500 words in main text

• Up to 10 references
• Maximum 2 illustrations

Meeting Reports

Maximum 2,000 words

• Abstract: unstructured, 100 words maximum
• Structure: Abstract, Keywords, Main text, Competing interests, Authors' contributions, Acknowledgements, Tables and figures, References

Protocols

Maximum 3500 words in main text

• 4 tables/figures maximum
• Structured abstract of 350 words
• Up to 50 references
• Must include: Acknowledgments, Competing Interests, Authors' contributions

Conference Proceedings

Collections of abstracts from conferences

• No individual abstract submissions
• Abstract required for all conference material

Supplements and Workshop Reports

Special collections with common theme or origin

• Can contain meeting abstracts or articles
• May include non-standard article types
• Contact editor at editor@afenet-journal.net for details

Preparation of Tables

Append tables at the end of your manuscript, after the reference section Each manuscript should have a maximum of four tables. If more tables are required, include an explanation in your cover letter.

• Each table should fit on one page (portrait or landscape). Elements inside the table should be contained within cells.
• Please cite and indicate where the table should appear at the relevant location in the text file so that the table can be added in the correct place during production
• Table titles (max 15 words) should be included above the table, and legends (max 300 words) should be included underneath the table.

Preparation of Figures

Include a legend for your images inside the main text, after the reference section. Each figure should be uploaded as separate files during the manuscript submission and also embedded at the end of the manuscript after the references. Major image formats are accepted excluding BMP. (JPEG, PNG, TIFF). Provide high-resolution images, not tiny thumbnails. Images of poor quality will be rejected. The size of the uploaded image is limited to 4 MB. Files must be named with the three-letter file extension appropriate to the file type (eg: .jpeg, .png). You will be asked to provide figure labels during the submission process. (The label is the small comment that usually goes with the figure. Example: Figure 1: Prevalence of diabetes in the study population aged 18 years and above. Findings of the TRICARE Diabetes Study, Uganda, 2006.) If you use Excel to generate your graph, avoid 3D, crowded axes, coloured background, strong grids etc. Use Calisto MT font (size 10 maximum) for all items in your graphs (Title, legend, axes etc..). Expand your Excel graph to obtain a large image, copy and paste it in Paint (Microsoft Paint), crop any white border and save the image as PNG or JPEG. Submit this image for your manuscript (don't forget to include the legends for each figure inside the main manuscript)

Submit Your Manuscript

New Submission checklist

Please submit your manuscript through our online submission system at https://www2.cloud.editorialmanager.com/jieph/default2.aspx/

After creating an account, the online system will ask you to enter information about your manuscript. Your submission should include:

• Cover letter
• Manuscript Title page
• Manuscript with references as a Microsoft Word document without the author details, no line numbers
• Figures, photos and Tables are placed after the references in the body of the manuscript
• Figures and photos are also uploaded as separate files in JPEG or PNG file format
• Supplementary materials (e.g., data sets related to the content of the submitted paper).

Submission of Revision checklist

Please submit your revised manuscript following the instructions provided for submitting a revision. Do not submit a revised manuscript as new, as this will delay the processing of your manuscript. Your revised manuscript should include:

• Title page if there are changes made to the title or authors' details
• A clean copy of the revised manuscript
• Marked copy (tracked changes) of the revised manuscript
• A point-by-point response to the reviewers' comments (name responses to reviewers' comments)
• Figures and photos if there are changes during a revision