JHNS provides a forum for original research and scholarship about healthcare delivery, organization, management, workforce, policy, and research methods relevant to nursing, midwifery, and other health-related professions. The JHNS aims to support evidence-informed policy and practice by publishing research, systematic and other scholarly reviews, critical discussion, and commentary on the highest standard. The journal welcomes studies that aim to evaluate and understand complex healthcare interventions and health policies and employ the most rigorous designs and methods appropriate for the research question. The journal also seeks to advance the quality of research by publishing methodological papers introducing or elaborating on analytic techniques, measures, and research methods.

JHNS offer an interesting source from Elsevier named Researcher Academy, which is a free e-learning platform designed to support early and mid-career researchers throughout their research journey. The "Learn" environment at Researcher Academy offers several interactive modules, webinars, downloadable guides and resources to guide you through writing for research and peer review. Feel free to use these free resources to improve your submission and easily navigate the publication process.

 

MULTIPLE, REDUNDANT, OR CONCURRENT PUBLICATION
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or an academic thesis), that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere, and that, if accepted, it will not be published elsewhere in the same form, in English or any other language, including electronically without the written consent of the copyright holder. Preprints can be shared anywhere at any time. Sharing your preprints, e.g. on a preprint server, will not count as prior publication.

To aid editorial decisions about distinctiveness and to avoid redundant or duplicate publications, we ask that you provide full references of any publications drawing on the same data. If the sources are not readily available, please upload a copy of the manuscript as supplementary material for editors to consider. If other publications are under review or in preparation, this should be mentioned in your letter to the Editor. If the sources are not readily available, please upload a copy of the manuscript as supplementary material for editors to consider.

Relevant results from the wider study must be referred to in the paper and the relationship between this and other publications from the same study must be made clear. It is not sufficient to cite a prior publication, rather text must clearly state that the results are from the same study.

 

INFORMED CONSENT AND ETHICAL APPROVAL
Informed consent must be sought from participants who can give it, which should be documented in the paper. Where informed consent is not obtained, consistent with recognised ethical principles and local legal frameworks, this must also be documented in your paper. Ethical approval must be stated at an appropriate point in the article. The approving body and approval number should be identified in the manuscript. If the study was exempt from such approval, the basis of such exemption and the regulatory framework must be described.

 

PATIENT DETAILS
The patient's personal details included in any part of the article and in any supplementary materials (including illustrations and videos) must be removed before submission. Where an author wishes to include case details or other personal information or images of patients or any other individuals in a JHNS publication, appropriate consents, permissions, and releases must be obtained by the author. The author must retain written consent, but copies should not be provided to the journal unless specifically requested. 

 

COPYRIGHT
If excerpts from other copyrighted works are to be included, the author(s) must obtain written permission from the copyright owners and credit the source(s) in the article. This includes permission to translate scales where a third party holds the copyright. For papers reporting the development of scales, measures, questionnaires or other instruments, we will only publish if authors are willing and able to provide a copy of the scale in the language of the version used in the study and (where relevant) an English translation as supplementary material to be published online. Authors may retain the copyright of such scales and should include a copyright line if they wish to do so. They can also give details on permissions and restrictions for use and/or add a Creative Commons license (see https://creativecommons.org/).

  

AUTHORSHIP, CONTRIBUTORS, AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
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. Everyone who meets these criteria should be listed as an author. You will be asked to confirm this on submission. Other individuals who made substantial contributions that fall short of the criteria for authorship (e.g., collecting data, providing language help, writing assistance or proofreading the article) should not be listed as authors but should be acknowledged as 'contributors' at the end of the manuscript with their contribution specified. For papers with ten or more authors, we ask that you give a collective name for the research group (e.g. ATLAS Research Group) to appear at the front of the article and list all authors at the end of the paper.

For transparency, authors must outline individual contributions to the paper for all authors using the relevant CRediT roles: Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Investigation Methodology Project administration Resources Software; Supervision, Validation; Visualization, Roles/Writing - original draft; Writing - review and editing. This information is gathered during the submission process, but you should ensure that you have the information to hand and that all authors agree before submission. For all named authors, the details provided must be sufficient to show that they meet the requirements for authorship (as defined above). A contribution statement describing the roles of authors will be published with the paper. Authors must ensure that all contributions are properly acknowledged and any who made contributions short of authorship should be named in the acknowledgement section in the paper, with their contributions detailed using the same CRediT taxonomy.

  

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. All authors must agree on this. Any addition, deletion or rearrangement of author names in the authorship list is at the editor's discretion and must be requested before the manuscript has been accepted. The Editor will require from the corresponding author: (a) the reason for the change in the author list and (b) written confirmation (e-mail, letter) from all authors that they agree with the change. In the case of adding or removing authors, this includes confirmation from the author being added or removed.

  

CONFLICT OF INTEREST
All authors must disclose any financial and personal relationships with others or organizations that could influence their work. Potential conflicts of interest do not necessarily preclude publication and authors are advised to err on transparency and openness in declaring any relevant relationships. Potential conflicts of interest include employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, paid expert testimony, patent applications/registrations, and grants or other funding. Details must be included at the end of your manuscript and in a file that must be uploaded on submission. We recommend you use the ICMJE standard form to help you prepare this declaration.

 

ROLE OF THE FUNDING SOURCE
You must identify who provided financial support for the conduct of the research and/or preparation of the article and briefly describe the role of the sponsor(s), if any, in study design; in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; and in the decision to submit the article for publication. This should be stated if the funding source(s) had no involvement. 

 

TYPES OF SUBMISSIONS
JHNS received articles in an original research paper, review paper, case study, case studies, image in nursing, and correspondence. The detail is:

Original research paper
The original research paper is an article that reports detailed research and is classified as primary literature. Its format includes an introduction and background problems, hypotheses, methods, results, interpretation of findings, and discussion sections. This paper is generally long, with a word count ranging from 3000 to 6000.

Review paper
A review paper is an article that provides an up-to-date report on the current situation regarding certain important topics in nursing. It discusses previous development on the topic and gives an overview of the future. In general, a review paper is usually long, ranging from 3000 to 5000 words or even more, depending on the case being reviewed.

Case study
A case study is an article compiled by practitioners presenting details of unique cases in nursing being handled. The cases are usually those that contribute significantly to the knowledge in the field. This article will discuss the signs, symptoms, diagnosis, and problem-solving.

Image in Nursing
Image in Nursing is an article compiled by practitioners presenting details of unique cases. The article should present pictures related to nursing care. The picture is expected to contribute to the care.

Correspondence
Correspondence is interesting and timely scientific or academic comments and clarifications on original research papers published in the journal. These comments should be based on knowledge contemporaneous with the original paper rather than subsequent scientific or academic developments.

Perspectives
Perspective articles are intended to provide a forum for authors to discuss models and ideas personally. They are more forward-looking and/or speculative than Reviews and may take a narrower field of view.

 

MANUSCRIPT PREPARATION

DOCUMENTS REQUIRED FOR SUBMISSION (OVERVIEW)
The information on the title page can be extracted to populate the submission system, reducing the need to rekey important information. Follow the detailed guidance in our MS Word template to aid successful extraction.

Title page (with author details): This should include the title, authors' names and affiliations, and a complete address for the corresponding author, including telephone and e-mail address. Twitter handles for one or all authors may also be included on the Title Page. The page should also include the abstract and keywords. A template Word file to help guide you is available.

Reporting guideline checklist: Please upload a completed reporting guidelines checklist for the relevant research design detailing where the areas covered by the guideline are addressed in the manuscript. For discussion papers and non-systematic reviews, letters or editorials, where no checklist applies, upload a file with 'reporting guideline not applicable'. There is no need to refer to the guidance in the paper. Reporting guidelines should never be cited as a source for methods.

Blinded manuscript: (no author details) - The main body of the paper including contribution statements, references, figures, tables and any acknowledgements. This should not include identifying information, such as the author's names or affiliations. However, any study registration details should not be redacted so registration and protocols can be considered at review (see review below). Please ensure the manuscript includes page numbers for reference during the review process. A template Word file to help guide you is available.

Declaration of potential conflict / competing interests: A statement detailing any actual or potential competing interests that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper. Please complete and upload the Declaration of Interest template, which is available as a Word file.

Data availability: To foster transparency, we require you to state the availability of your data in your submission. Where possible, we encourage authors to share data by default using a publicly available archive. If your data is unavailable to access or unsuitable to post, you can indicate why during the submission process. 

Supplementary material: Papers whose primary function is to report the development of scales, measures, questionnaires or other instruments must include a copy of the scale (and, where relevant, an English translation) as supplementary material. Other supplementary material can also be submitted (for example, additional tables and figures)but must be cited in the manuscript.

Revised manuscripts: Authors should highlight the main manuscript changes by highlighting the relevant text sections. Tracked changes should not be used unless the changes are very minor. Please submit only one version of the revised manuscript.

CRedit contributions statement: For transparency, authors must submit a file outlining individual contributions to the paper for all authors.

Covering letter:  To the Editor (optional) in which you address any matters you may wish the editors to consider (for example requests for exceptions to policy or the relationship of this work to other studies, elaboration on potential conflicts of interest).

TITLE PAGE
The title page should include the following. Reviewers will not see it.
Title: The title should be concise and informative. The journal requires titles for research and review papers to be in the format Topic (or question): method (e.g. Nurse staffing in intensive care units: a systematic review). The country where the study was conducted should not normally be named in the title unless it is an essential element (for example, a national survey).

Author names: Please clearly indicate each author's given name(s) and family name(s) and check that all names are accurately spelt. You can add your name between parentheses in your script behind the English transliteration.

Affiliations: Below the names, give the authors' affiliation addresses (where the actual work was done). Indicate all affiliations with a lower-case superscript immediately after the author's name and in front of the appropriate address. Provide the full details of each affiliation, including the country name.

Corresponding author: Indicate who will handle correspondence at all stages of refereeing and publication. This responsibility includes answering queries about the research that may arise after publication.

Present/permanent address: If an author has moved since the work described in the article was done or was visiting, a 'Present address' (or 'Permanent address') may be indicated as a footnote to that author's name. The address where the author did the work must be retained as the main affiliation address.

Abstract: All submissions (except letters and editorials) should include 400 words or fewer abstracts. Research and review papers' abstracts must be structured and adopt the headings suggested by the relevant reporting guidelines. Abstracts for Discussion Papers should concisely summarise the line of argument pursued and conclusions. Abstracts should not include references or abbreviations other than standard system international (SI) units and common statistical terms (e.g. t-test, ANOVA).

When reporting quantitative results in the abstract, report parameter estimates and confidence intervals in preference to p-values (e.g. "risk of death was reduced [Odds ratio 0.9, 95% confidence interval 0.87-0.92]" rather than "risk of death was significantly reduced [p=0.001]")

Study registration details (e,g, ethical clearance number) and registration date should be included at the end of the abstract.

Keywords: Provide between four and ten keywords that accurately identify the paper's subject, purpose, method and focus. Use the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) thesaurus (see http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/ meshhome.html) or Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health (CINAHL) headings where possible. Give keywords in alphabetical order.

BLINDED MANUSCRIPT
You can submit your manuscript as a single file to be used in the refereeing process. It should contain high enough quality figures for refereeing. If you prefer, you may still provide all or some of the source files for tables and figures at the initial submission. Individual figure files larger than 10 MB must be uploaded separately.

Anonymity: The manuscript file should contain no details that readily identify authors to prospective reviewers. However, we recognise that essential information or the nature of the work itself may make it impossible to guarantee anonymity to authors. While the journal endeavours to maintain a single blind-review process as far as possible, we give priority to transparent reporting and prospective registration. As it is important that reviewers can verify that reporting is complete and consistent with protocols to avoid (for example) selective outcome reporting or undocumented protocol changes, authors are not permitted to redact registration numbers for review. Authors may exercise discretion concerning redacting details of prior research.

The blinded manuscript must include the following essential elements (except as noted above):

Main manuscript text: For most papers, the basic structure of abstract, Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion should be used. Authors should consult the reporting guidelines for their methods and complete the checklist to ensure essential detail is included (see http://www.equator-network.org/).

Ethical approval and study registration details must be included in the methods section. As part of the discussion, the authors should describe the limitations of the work. A sub-heading before the conclusions is recommended.

Word limits: Full papers up to 7000 words (excluding tables, figures, and references), editorials up to 1000 words and letters up to 1000 words. Shorter papers are preferred.

Tables and figures: Up to 5 in total. The corresponding caption should be placed directly below the figure or table. Additional tables/figures (including large tables) can be included as supplementary material, which must be cited in the text.

References: There are no strict requirements on reference formatting at submission. References can be in any style or format as long as the style is consistent and references are complete and accurate. Where applicable, author(s) name(s), journal title/book title, chapter title/article title, year of publication, volume number/book chapter and the article number or pagination must be present. The use of DOI is highly encouraged. The reference style used by the journal will be applied to the accepted article by Elsevier at the proof stage.

 

SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL
Supplementary material such as applications, images and sound clips, can be published with your article to enhance it. Please submit your material with the article and supply a concise, descriptive caption for each supplementary file. Supplementary material must be cited in the text with a reference to the file and, if necessary, tables/figures within it. Supplementary items are published exactly as they are received (Excel or PowerPoint files will appear as such online). If you wish to change supplementary material during any process stage, please provide an updated file. Do not annotate any corrections on a previous version. Please switch off the 'Track Changes' option in Microsoft Office files.

LANGUAGE (USAGE AND EDITING SERVICES)
Please write your text in good English (American or British usage is accepted, but not a mixture). Please write your text in good English (American or British usage is accepted, but not a mixture). 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. Articles sent in Bahasa Indonesia will be edited and translated with a fee charged to the authors (proofreading costs around IDR 500,000.00 per 1000 words).

Articles should make no assumptions about the beliefs or commitments of any reader, should contain nothing that might imply that one individual is superior to another on the grounds of ethnic background, sex, culture or any other characteristic, and should use inclusive language throughout. We ask authors to consider that the term 'race' is closely associated with ideologies of scientific racism and has no clearly defined scientific meaning. Its use as a simple description/categorisation of people should be avoided.

Authors should ensure that writing is free from gender bias, for instance, by using 'he or she', 'his/her' instead of 'she' or 'her', and by making use of job titles that are gender neutral (e.g. 'chairperson' instead of 'chairman' and 'flight attendant' instead of 'stewardess'). Nurse is a gender-neutral term.

We recognise that healthcare recipients are, firstly, people and should be referred to as such. For example, "people with diabetes" is preferable to "diabetes patients" or "diabetics", although recipients of health care in general might be referred to as patients in some circumstances. Never refer to people as 'sufferers' or 'victims' of a condition.

 
ABBREVIATIONS
We do not permit the use of abbreviations (including acronyms and initialisms). Limited exceptions include SI units, statistical terms and tests (e.g. df, t, ANOVA) and instruments and products generally identified by their initials or abbreviations (e.g. SF36, SPSS). Abbreviations may be used in tables if needed but must be fully defined in a footnote for each table where the abbreviation is used. For additional guidance, see the editorial policy/style on abbreviations, initialisms and acronyms.

 

REPORTING SEX- AND GENDER-BASED ANALYSES

Reporting guidance
For research involving or 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 articles. 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 their research's precision, rigor and reproducibility and 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 biological attributes 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.

In contrast, these constructs 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 how they are used. In addition to this definition guidance and the SAGER guidelines, the resources on this page offer further insight into sex and gender in research studies.

Statistics
Standard methods of presenting statistical material should be used. Where methods used are not widely recognised explanation and full reference to widely accessible sources must be given.
Wherever possible give both point estimates and 95% confidence intervals for all parameters estimated by the study (e.g. group differences, frequency of characteristics). Exact p-values should be given to no more than three decimal places. Do not interpret non-significant results as evidence that there is no difference/relationship. The term 'statistically significant' (not just 'significant') should be used to refer to the result of tests, and the term clinically important should be preferred to the term clinically significant.

Always consider the importance of differences/strengths of relationships. Do not use statistical significance as a proxy for such measures. Please refer to the journal's position paper on reporting statistical significance and p-values. Always identify the statistical package used (including version). Please note that the package SPSS is NOT short for 'Statistical Package for the Social Sciences 'or 'Statistical Product and Service Solution' (these names were abandoned in the 1990s!)

TABLES
Please submit tables as editable text and not as images. Tables can be placed next to the relevant text in the article. Number tables consecutively under their appearance in the text and place any table notes below the table body. Be sparing in using tables (maximum 5 tables and figures in the body text) and ensure that the data presented in them do not simply duplicate results described elsewhere in the article. Additional tables can be submitted as online supplemental material, but these must be referred to in the text (supplemental material table X, etc.). Please avoid using vertical rules. Abbreviations used in tables must be fully defined at the foot of each table where the abbreviation is used.

FOOTNOTES
Do not use footnotes other than where abbreviations or other symbols have been used in a table, in which case the notes should be below the table, not at the foot of the page.

CITATIONS AND REFERENCES
The journal uses an author (date) citation style but authors can submit using any recognised format. In text citations and reference lists will be reformatted to journal style if the article is accepted.
You should avoid making multiple citations to establish the same point. As a rule, use no more than three or four illustrative examples (e.g. Many authors have found that sentences are unreadable if there are too many citations (e.g. Smith 2021, Jones 1980, Older 1888).

In formal literature reviews, you may wish to link all sources of evidence to a particular point exhaustively. Still, we urge caution as paragraphs containing large blocks of references can become difficult to read. We suggest you look to examples of published reviews for approaches to such problems, but adaptations to writing style and judicious use of tables can often avoid the issue.

Please ensure that every reference cited in the text is also in the reference list (and vice versa). When copying references, please be careful as they may already contain errors. Use of the DOI is highly encouraged.

This journal has standard templates in key reference management packages like Mendeley Desktop and EndNote.

Unpublished results and personal communications are not to be included in the reference list but may be mentioned in the text. The citation of a reference as 'in press' implies that the item has been accepted for publication.

Web references: At a minimum, the full URL and the date when the reference was last accessed should be given. Any further information should also be given if known (DOI, author names, dates, reference to a source publication, etc.). Web references can be listed separately (e.g., after the reference list) under a different heading if desired or can be included in the reference list.

Data references: Where data has been made available, you should cite underlying or relevant datasets in your manuscript by citing them in your text and including a data reference in your Reference List. Data references should include the following elements: author name(s), dataset title, data repository, version (where available), year, and global persistent identifier (e.g. DOI). Add [dataset] immediately before the reference to properly identify it as a data reference. In your reference, please include the names of the investigators who collected the data and the date of access.

 

SHARING RESEARCH AND MATERIALS (DATA)
This journal supports transparency and openness of data and materials. Research materials used in the study (e.g. instructional materials, proprietary computer programs, questionnaires, interview guides) should be made publicly available unless there are legal, ethical or physical reasons not to do so. Materials can be made available in a public repository or as supplementary material to the paper. The manuscript must include a citation to such material.

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. Giving readers access to underlying data gives them a better understanding of the research described and allows independent verification and reuse of data. We encourage authors to secure independent replication of all data analyses before publication. We strongly encourage authors to make data available in a repository, and where data is made available in this fashion, it should be cited in the manuscript and reference list.

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

Data sharing statement: Regardless of whether or not data is made available, the journal requires all authors to include a data sharing statement in their manuscript, which states whether data will be made available, any conditions for access, where and how it can be accessed or if it is not available to give a reason. See https://www.elsevier.com/researcher/author/tools-and-resources/research-data/data-statement.

 

FUNDING SOURCES
List funding sources in this standard way to facilitate compliance with the funder's requirements, for example:
"The National Institutes of Health supported this work [grant numbers xxxx, yyyy]; the Bill and 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 of 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
General points: Ensure you use uniform lettering and sizing of your original artwork. Preferred fonts: Arial (or Helvetica), Times New Roman (or Times), Symbol, Courier. Number the illustrations according to their sequence in the text. Use a logical naming convention for your artwork files. Indicate per figure if it is a single, 1.5 or 2-column fitting image. For Word submissions only, you may still provide figures and their captions, and tables within a single file at the revision stage. Please note that individual figure files larger than 10 MB must be provided in separate source files. Regardless of the application used, 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 the font or save the text as 'graphics'. TIFF (or JPG): Colour or grayscale photographs (halftones): always use a minimum of 300 dpi. TIFF (or JPG): Bitmapped line drawings: use a minimum of 1000 dpi. TIFF (or JPG): Combinations of bitmapped line/half-tone (colour or grayscale): a minimum of 500 dpi is required. A detailed guide on electronic artwork is available.

Figure captions: Ensure that each illustration has a caption. A caption should comprise a brief title (not on the figure itself) and a description of the illustration. Keep text in the illustrations to a minimum, but explain all symbols and abbreviations used.

Colour artwork: If, together with your accepted article, you submit usable colour figures, then Elsevier will ensure, at no additional charge, that these figures will appear in colour online (e.g., ScienceDirect and other sites) regardless of whether or not these illustrations are reproduced in colour in the printed version.

For colour reproduction in print, you will receive information regarding the costs from Elsevier after receipt of your accepted article. Please indicate your preference for colour: in print or online only. Because of technical complications that can arise by converting colour figures to 'grey scale' (for the printed version, should you not opt for colour in print) please submit in addition usable black and white versions of all the colour illustrations.

 

SUBMISSION AND REVIEW

Our online submission system guides you stepwise through entering your article details and uploading your files. All correspondence, including notification of the Editor's decision and requests for revision, is e-mail.
Please submit your article via this submission

Initial screening
The decision to publish a paper is based on an editorial assessment and peer review. Initially, all papers are assessed by members of the editorial team. The aim is to determine if the paper is within scope, is likely to be of interest to the readership, is making a novel contribution and is of a high quality relative to other submissions to the journal. Editorials and Letters may be accepted at this stage, but in all other cases, the decision is to reject the paper or to send it for peer review. Occasionally, a paper will be returned to the author with requests for revisions to assist the editors in deciding whether or not to send it out for review. Authors can expect a decision from this stage of the review process within 2 weeks of submission.

Single-Blind Review
The journal endeavours to maintain a single blind-review process as far as possible, meaning the authors' identities are concealed from the reviewers. It is up to the authors to ensure that the details of prior publications do not reveal their identity and that the main manuscript file is anonymous. However, we give priority to transparent reporting and prospective registration as reviewers must be able to verify that reporting is complete and consistent with protocols to avoid (for example) selective outcome reporting or undocumented protocol changes. Therefore, authors are not permitted to redact registration numbers for review. Authors may exercise discretion concerning redacting details of prior research.

The Editor decides to publish with advice from one or more associate editors and reviewers. The Editor-in-Chief reserves the right to the final decision regarding acceptance. Occasionally, we may choose not to publish despite recommendations from reviewers (or vice versa).

Referees
During submission, authors may suggest three potential referees' names and institutional e-mail addresses. This can help facilitate timely and high-quality peer review. We seek to use those who are world leaders in the research field to be reviewed. The Editor retains the sole right to decide whether or not the suggested reviewers are used. Suggested reviewers should not be from the same institution as any of the authors, and authors should avoid suggesting reviewers who might be seen to have a conflict of interest, for example, because of ongoing close collaboration with the author. Suggestions should reflect the global reach of the journal and should be those that a global audience would recognise as world-leading experts.

Queries
For questions about the editorial process (including the status of manuscripts under review) please contact the editorial office at [email protected]

Appeals
Initial appeals to editorial decisions should be directed to [email protected]. One of the editors will consider these in consultation with other editors not directly involved in the original decision. If the initial assessment finds grounds for appeal (generally that the decision-making is out of line with the general process and standards applied to other manuscripts), authors will be advised of the required steps to progress the appeal to more detailed consideration.

 

AFTER ACCEPTANCE

Open access
After acceptance, open-access papers will be published under a non-commercial license (CC BY-NC), which lets others distribute and copy the article and include it 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. You can apply for authors whose funders require a commercial CC BY license after your manuscript is accepted for publication.

Online proof correction
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 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. You can still annotate and upload your edits on the PDF version if preferred. 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. Ensuring that all corrections are sent back to us in one communication is important. Please check carefully before replying, as the inclusion of any subsequent corrections cannot be guaranteed. Proofreading is solely your responsibility.

Use of word processing software
Regardless of the file format of the original submission, at revision you must provide us with an editable file of the entire article. Keep the layout of the text as simple as possible. Most formatting codes will be removed and replaced on processing the article. The electronic text should be prepared similarly to conventional manuscripts. You are strongly advised to use your word processor's 'spell-check' and 'grammar-check' functions to avoid unnecessary errors.

Preprint references
Where a preprint has subsequently become available as a peer-reviewed publication, the formal publication should be used as the reference. If preprints are central to your work or cover crucial developments in the topic but are not yet formally published, these may be referenced. Preprints should be marked as such, for example, by including the word preprint or the name of the preprint server as part of the reference. The preprint DOI should also be provided.

FREE FORMAT: FOCUS ON YOUR RESEARCH (New!)
For your submission, please find the template details in this link. However, we offer a free format submission. Your time is valuable and should be spent on research, not re-typing reference lists. Free format submission helps make getting your manuscript ready to submit easier and faster. If you submit to JHNS, you never need to worry about formatting requirements. Simply submit your manuscript in the format of your choice, and JHNS will update the formatting for you into journal style if your manuscript is accepted for publication.