Journal of Public Health International

Manuscript Evaluation Checklist

During evaluation please check for these qualifications for maintaining the quality of the manuscript

Title:

• Should be simple to comprehend, precise and informative, and relevant to the content.

Abstract:

• In addition to stating the issue, the hypothesis should be checked for clarity and conciseness. The hypothesis or purpose should be stated in the first paragraph, generally in the last sentence. In abstracts, the word restriction may be adjusted if absolutely necessary.
• The methodology must be clearly characterised and succinctly discussed.
• A short summary of the results is required, along with data and statistics where applicable.
• The conclusions and findings must be stated.

Introduction:

Introduction is to be checked for the following:

• Early description of the overall problem
• Relevant questions that must be answered
• Clear and concise hypothesis
• Reachability of the problem
• Preciseness of the hypothesis
• Identification of the assumption of the study
• Operational identification of pertinent terms
• Significance of the problem discussed
• Justification of the research
• Detailed synopsis of relevant literature and its relevance to the research topic being researched
• Relevance of the citation and its pertinence to the research problem including the time factor.
• Citations must provide rationale for research and should also be a primary source.
• Relationship of the problem to previous research should also be made clear.

Methods and Materials:

• The subject population should be described.
• If the subjects are humans or the sample was drawn from humans it is mandatory to obtain an informed consent or institutional review board approval. Please check for the necessary.
• If the subjects were animals, were appropriate standards of human care followed, with animal care review committee approval?
• The following statement must be contained if animals were utilized:
• All animals received care in complianc​e with the “Guide for the Care and use of Laboratory Animals” published by the National Institutes of Health (NIH Publication 85-23, revised 1985.)
• Justification of the sampling method.
• Method of data collection must permit sufficiently for the judgment of their appropriateness for the study presented.
• Appropriate design to study the hypothesis or questions.
• Inclusion of proper controls where appropriate.
• Variables should be mentioned unambiguously and identified.
• Replication of the design should be explicit enough to be replicated.
• Appropriateness of the statistical tests used. Appropriateness of the tests to the design.
• If you are unsure of the adequacy of statistical test selection please make note of it on the ‘Comments by Editor’ form and a statistical consult will be made.

Results must contain:

• Logic-based output that is clear, concise, and organised.
• Sufficient information to answer the research question.
• Statistics reports with values. (where applicable)
• Statistics relevant to the research hypothesis.
• Complete, easily understandable tables and figures.

Data available as a figure or a table. (A figure containing the same data shouldn't be included if the data is listed in the table, and vice versa. Consider asking the authors to provide the descriptive data in table form as an addition to the manuscript if there are considerable data.)

Discussion must contain:

• Clearly stated conclusions.
• Substantial evidence for the conclusion presented.
• Revisited hypothesis.
• Discussion of the implicated findings.
• Proper generalization of the research with respect to the population studied. (ex: results from laboratory study cannot be used for clinical practice)
• Description of possible sources of sampling bias or errors.
• Relevance and reliability of the previous research data presented.
• Valid data and its report of pertinence to the present study.
• Identification of problems and limitations of the study and their discussion.
• Suggestion of future research recommendation.

Conclusion:

• An end paragraph of the discussion section. A summary paragraph can also be added before the conclusion paragraph if necessary.

References:

• They must be organized and in the required style of the journal. Primary sources (journals) are more preferable than the secondary sources (text books) for the citations.
• As a general rule, manuscripts should contain significant reference to previously published work to support the discussion.
• Although no standard is set, it is generally accepted that the reference numbers meet the style of the paper. Please refer to the chart below for reference number. These are ‘general’ guidelines.

Tables and figures:

• Tables and Figures should represent the results in a clear and concise format. Good pictographically representation is expected. Use of the advanced technology and the available 2D and 3D formats can enhance the readability of the figures. But in no way the pictures should be manipulated just to match the results without relevance. Histograms and bar diagrams are also to be presented in an interesting manner. Even a video clip of limited size can also be included if it provides a stronger base.

Form and Style:

• Report must be clear.
• Report must be logically organized.
• Tone should be impartial, unbiased and scientific.
• Follow instructions for author format (else can be sent for revision unto the required format)
• Must contain key words.

Few important guidelines:

• The below are the necessary steps that are to be taken care of and are to be strictly considered while evaluating a manuscript. Note down the errors or comments with respect to the line numbers in the page and present both the error and the correction; subheading in case of comments.
• Please do not hesitate to give an impartial review. Number of revisions can be addressed until the desired quality is achieved.
• Please reject the manuscripts which do not fall under the scope of the journal without a review.
• In case of rejection please state the reason clearly and guide them for further action if required. (Ex: if the rejection is due to the improper language and good subject you can suggest them for language editing. If the rejection is due to the subject which is out of scope state it. Etc..,)
• Adhere to the quality of language. It must be understandable by the readers all over the world.

Ethical Obligations:

• Every manuscript submitted for publication should be given fair treatment by the editor, who should evaluate each one on the basis of its own merits without taking the author's race, religion, nationality, sex, seniority, or affiliation with any particular institution into account (s).

• Manuscripts submitted for publication should be reviewed by editors as soon as possible and with the utmost care. The editor alone is in charge of deciding whether to accept or reject a manuscript. If a manuscript is deemed improper for the journal, it may be rejected without review.

• The editing team's editor and members should only discuss manuscripts they are considering with people they are seeking professional input from. Following a decision, the editor may reveal the article title and identities of the authors of works that have been approved for publication.

• An editor should respect the intellectual independence of authors.

• Editorial responsibility and authority for any manuscript authored by an editor and submitted to the editor’s journal should be delegated to some other qualified person. Editorial consideration of the manuscript in any way or form by the author-editor would constitute a conflict of interest.

• Unpublished information, or interpretations disclosed in a submitted manuscript should not be used in an editor’s own research except with the consent of the author.

• An editor should make arrangements for another qualified professional to take on editorial responsibilities for a manuscript when it is so closely related to their study as to present a conflict of interest.

• If an editor is presented with convincing evidence that the main substance or conclusions of a report published in an editor’s journal are erroneous, the editor should facilitate publication of an appropriate report or note pointing out the error and, if possible, correcting it.

• An author may request the editor not use certain reviewers in consideration of a manuscript.

• An Editor should ideally send a PDF rather than Microsoft Word or other electronic file to reviewers and request that comments not be made to the electronic copy of the manuscript.

These are the general and ethical guidelines you need to adhere to achieve the quality output of a research paper.