Guide for Authors

HEALTH Review Journal – Improving evidence-based policy making

INTRODUCTION

BEFORE YOU BEGIN

Moral and Ethical Issues

  1. Commitments of the Publisher and the Editor-in-chief
  2. Obligations for Authors
    • Originality of content
    • Plagiarism
    • Conflict of Interest/Declaration of Interest and Declaration of Funding
    • List of authors
    • Securing and maintaining permissions
    • Retention of raw data
    • Presentation of results concerning individuals/legal entities
    • Copyright

PREPARATION

Submission and Requirements

  1. Submission
  2. Subjects, types and extend of papers
  3. Structure and formatting of the content
    • Language and formatting of text, shapes, tables
    • Pages of identity, title and abstract
    • Keywords
    • Main Boy
    • References

AFTER ACCEPTANCE

  1. Use of the DOI
  2. Offprints

Introduction

HEALTH Review Journal – Improving evidence-based policy making

HEALTH Review is a quarterly published journal by Hellenic Health Services Management Association (HHSMA) that aims to inform discussions about how to improve health policy-making by publishing high quality research articles with clear policy implications that are relevant for an international audience.

HEALTH Review is an interdisciplinary journal, committed to providing objective and trustworthy information and guidance on all aspects of health and healthcare, at the interface between health management and policies, health economics, health services research, health informatics, biomedical technology, quality, public health, and related disciplines. Papers with entirely clinical content (e.g. clinical trial results) do not fall within the scope of the journal.

HEALTH Review publishes articles with the following attributes:

  1. Topic: research that addresses a clear and policy relevant research question with a focus on health systems, health management and policies, health economics, health informatics or health reforms.
  2. Regional scope: all countries worldwide
  3. Methods: adequate application of quantitative and/or qualitative methods, explained in a language that is comprehensible for a broad readership from different disciplines.
  4. Content: original research or reviews that focus on health management and policies and related disciplines. Articles with a purely clinical nature (e.g. results of clinical trials) do not fall within the scope of the journal.
  5. Authorship: written by researchers and/or policy-makers from a range of different disciplines.
  6. Policy relevance: research findings that have direct implications for and the potential to contribute to better health policy-making.
  7. International relevance: research that has implications for policy-makers and researchers from several countries.

 

Types of articles

HEALTH Review Journal welcomes submissions of articles which address information and findings useful for health policy-makers. The articles’ categories are the following:

Research Studies

Research studies are traditional research papers (up to 3,500 words), presenting background, methods, results, discussion, and conclusions of research on specific health management and policy relevant questions. Depending on the specific research question, cross-disciplinary and mixed-methods research approaches are encouraged, and both quantitative (surveys, secondary data analyses) and qualitative research (focus groups, individual interviews, document analyses) is welcome. All the published research articles should be original and previously unpublished.

Systematic Reviews with or without meta-analysis

Reviews (including scoping reviews, realist reviews, or narrative reviews) are longer papers (up to 3,500 words) that provide a comprehensive overview of the available literature about particular health management and policies issues or relevant methodological aspects. Systematic reviews should follow appropriate reporting guidelines, e.g. the PRISMA for reporting of systematic reviews, PRISMA-ScR for scoping reviews, RAMESES for realist reviews, or the PRIOR for overviews of reviews.

Opinion and informative papers

This is a category of short articles (up to 1,500 words) that focus on a health management and policy or health economic relevant topic. These papers may, for example, highlight health system challenges that are relevant for several countries, or they may present a new idea or reform proposals that could be relevant for several countries. They should always be clear, compelling, focus on a single point, and build a clear argument.

Letters and Book reviews

Letters and Book review (up to 500 words) or debate among readers in the form of short letters/comments on published papers and replies by the original authors.

Editorials

Editorials are commissioned by the editors. They provide discussion on a specific issue or field. They should include a maximum of three authors, 2,000 words and one table or figure. No abstract is required.

Depending on the type, the submitted papers should not exceed the above number of words (not including the references).

Before You Begin

Moral and Ethical Issues

  • Commitments of the Publisher and the Editor-in-chief

The Publisher (HHSMA) and the Editor-in-chief are committed to the unbiased review of papers even if their content differs from the respective positions of HHSMA on health policy issues. The paper peer-review process is described in Guide for Reviewers. The Publisher and the Editor-in-chief declare that their final decisions on whether or no to publish an article are exclusively based on scientific criteria and under no circumstances they are affected by any financial sponsorships in support of the publication of the journal or of HHSMA.

The publisher (HHSMA) and the Εditor-in-chief adopt the “Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly work in Biomedical Journals” and the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors’ guidelines.

  • Obligations for Authors

Originality of content

The texts submitted to judgment for publication must be originals, that is to have not been published or submitted to another journal (print or electronic). If it is about texts coming from some extensive work with a great wealth of results, which may lead to more than one publication, it should be ensured that there is no repetition of thesame findings in the various publications. The submission of the same work or part of an already published work in two or more magazines is an unacceptable practice and the Editor-in-chief may reject texts that have already been published in other publications.

Plagiarism

Authors have to convey and compose theinformation they collect from other authors’ papers, by usingtheir own writing style, avoiding using word for word, and always indicating the sources (bibliographies). In a small part of the text (e.g. one or two paragraphs in the whole text) it is possible to transfer verbatim excerpts from other authors’ papers (e.g. definitions or difficult concepts) if the authors considerthat the attempt to convey the meaning of theseexcerpts with their own writing style involves the risk of conceptualfalsification. In this case, these excerpts should beenclosed in quotation marks and italics should be used.

In order to avoid plagiarism (that has also legal implications), the Editor-in-chief uses special software (for both Greek and English content) and reserves the right to returnthe paper to the authors for amendments or even reject itbefore the peer review process (if malicious plagiarism is detected).

Conflict of Interest/Declaration of Interest and Declaration of Funding

If the research or other work submitted for publication has been funded by a third party or there are conflicting interests (conflict of interest) of any kind, the author(s) must disclose the fact, in separate paragraphs at the end of work.

List of authors

All the individuals who substantially and actively contributed to the conduct of the study (e.g. developedthe methodological design, carried out the literaturereview, developed and / or weighed the study tool, etc.) andto the writing of the corresponding text have the right to beincluded in the list of authors. Individuals, who provided theapproval for a study facilitated the collection of certain data,should be acknowledged to a separate section of the paper,namely the acknowledgments section. Additions/removals orrevisions to the authors’ presentation order are not accepted by the Editor-in-chief after the paper has been submitted.

Securing and maintaining permissions/approvals for conducting a study, securing up-to-date consent of participants

In the case of research studies, the authors must clearlystate the permissions/approvals they have received in the Method section (e.g. permission from the scientific committee of a hospital, approval of a research protocol by academic organizations) and describe the process of getting informed consent from the participants. The Editor-in-chief reserves the right to request from the authors to submit the respective permissions/approvals/consent forms.

Retention of raw data

The Editor-in-chief may selectively request from the authors the raw research data tasks to confirm/verify the results presented in submitted work. In any case, ownership of the data remains with the authors.

Presentation of results concerning natural/legal entities

Authors should edit and present data originating from natural persons (e.g. healthcare professionals, patients, service users etc.) anonymized. In case of presentation of results concerning legal entities (e.g. hospitals, ministries, organizations, associations), the authors must have ensured the consent of the administrationsof the respective legal entities in order to refer nominallyto these entities. Otherwise, the reference to the legal entities will be made anonymously through a more general description of their situation (e.g. the study was carried out in public general tertiary hospital of Attica, Greece or in a private rehabilitation center in Northern Greece).

Copyright

The submission of content for publication in the journal HEALTH Review automatically constitutes a formal declaration and consent of the author/s that they grant HHSMA and the journal the exclusive right to firstly publish their work.

Submission and Requirements of Papers

  • Submission of papers

The papers are only submitted electronically by using the pre-established Word template: 

for paper in English   

for paper in Greek        

Please submit your article via https://healthreview.gr/submit-your-article/

  • Subjects, types and extent of papers

Papers dealing with issues related to Health Management and Policies, Health Economics, Health Informatics, Biomedical Technology, Quality, Public Health and related disciplines both in Greece and internationally are accepted for peer-review. Papers with entirely clinical content (e.g. clinical trial results) donot fall within the scope of the journal.

Original papers presented at conferences or other scientific events of HHSMA are also considered to have been submittedfor peer-review and subsequent publication in the journal “HEALTH Review” unless there is a clear objection. Depending on the type, the submitted papers should not exceed the following number of words (not including the References):

Research Studiesand Literature Reviews: until 3,500 words

Opinion and informative papers: until 1,500 words

Letters and Book reviews: until 500 words

Editorials: until 2,000 words

  • Structure and Formatting of the content of papers

Language & Formatting of text / shapes / tables

All papers submitted for peer-review should be written in English or Greek, on A4 size pages, with a white border of 2 cm on all sides, in Times New Roman or Arial font, in letters of size 12 and typed in double line spacing. All pages must be numbered in the lower right corner.

Pages of identity, title and abstract

All papers to be reviewed should be accompanied by the pages in the following order (see also the Word Template):

The Page of identity should indicate in mixed case letters, the Job Title (up to 15 words), the Name (s) – formal/academic qualifications – professional titles – the employer – the postal address – the phone number – and the author’s/authors’ email address. If there is more than one author, the corresponding author for the journal is appointed.

The Page of title should indicate in mixed case letters both the full and short title of the paper. The short title of the paper should not exceed the 50 characters. Names should not be written on this page.

The Page of abstract (200 until 300 words) should indicate the purpose/objective of the paper with clarity, briefly the method and some basic representative findings from the paper as well as the main conclusions. At the end of the abstract, 3-6 Keywords should be referred.

Keywords

Authors are asked to include 3-6 keywords, ideally utilizing MeSH terms https://meshb.nlm.nih.gov/MeSHonDemand

Main body of the paper

Each paper should be structured inseparate sections which need to have the corresponding titles such as the following titles proposed:

  • Introduction
  • Aim/Purpose – Objectives
  • Method
  • Results
  • Discussion – Conclusion
  • Acknowledgments (if the authors consider this appropriate)
  • Funding Statement (if applicable)
  • Declaration of Conflict of interest (if applicable)
  • References

The Editor-in-chief of the journal draws the attention of(especially young) authors to the following topics:

  • Clearly state the primary purpose – objective of the paper anddistinctly describe each research question
  • Summarize in the Discussion – Conclusions section the mainfindings of the paper (which should have been presented indetail in the section of Results) and comment them in relationto the Greek and international literature. Tables, shapes and charts should not be placed in this section. In the same section, interpretative comments of the authorsand/or working hypotheses that derive from the study and need further investigation in the future or the limitations of the study (if they were not described in the section of Method) can be placed. The section concludes with a reference to the contributionof the findings of the paper to the exercise of health policy and/or to the formulation of realistic proposals for dealing with a problemor improving the way an issue is managed. Successful writing of the discussion requires authors’ skillfulness so that the reader could immediately understand which of the following: a) relate tofindings of the current study b) refer to results of other comparable studies and c) relate to personal views/interpretative commentsor working hypotheses posed by the authors.
  • Tables, Shapes, Charts, can also be colored. They should definitely be numbered in the order in which they are listed. The Tables should be titled after the numbering (at the top) and similarly the Shapes/Charts should have an explanatory subtitle/caption (at the bottom) and be placed in the paper, in the desired place of their quotation. However, the Editor-in-chief of the journal reserves the right to final pagination, based on technical criteria.

In particular, for the Method and Results sections, the instructions to the authors for each type of paper are the following:

I. Research Papers

  • The section of the Method should include: the type ofstudy (e.g. quantitative synchronous, quantitative retrospective, qualitative etc.), the size and composition of the populationunder study (e.g. health professionals of specific specializations,users of services of specific type structures, etc.), themethod of sampling (e.g.convenience sampling, random sampling),the method of data collection (e.g. with personal interviews,self-completing questionnaires, etc.) the time of datacollection, as well as the “tool/s” of the study. If a “tool/s” isdeveloped by other researchers then it is definitely necessaryto be referred to the Method section and the process of obtaining the relevant approvals or if it is a tool available forfree. In the case that the tool was created by the authorsthemselves, the development process should be stated (e.g.conducting a pilot study for its weighting). In the same or ina separate sub-section, the relevant approvals obtained for theconduct of the study (e.g. approval of a protocol by ethics committees, authorization to conduct a study by scientific committees of hospitals, etc.), and the relevant moral and ethicalissues (e.g. how to ensure informed consent of the participants, anonymous management of the personal data of the participants, etc.) should also be mentioned. In addition, in the Method  section, it is necessary to make a brief descriptionof the way of analysis of the data and the statistical tests that were applied. Finally, the section of either Method or Discussion should include the Limitations of each study.
  • The Results section includes a presentation of the findings of the paper with the use of a limited number of Tables – Shapes – Charts, accompanied by the text where the worth-mentioning results will be cited. However, all the findings presentedin the form of tables-shapes-charts should not be repeated in the text. Moreover, the Results section should not refer to similarfindings of other papers, nor should any interpretive commentsof the authors be stated in this section (as these shouldbe presented in the Discussion section).

II. Systematic Review Papers

  • In the Method section describe: the sources of the papers (e.g. electronic databases such as Scopus, Pubmed, Scopus, ScienceDirect), the keywords in all the languages used, the periodof publication of the papers included in the systematicreview as well as the review criteria of the papers.Authors are strongly encouraged to consider the PRISMA Checklist when writing systematic review papers. It is emphasized that systematic reviews carried out byother authors should not be included in the presented studiesof a new systematic review.
  • In the Results section, firstly set the Flow Chart through which the different phases of the systematic review should be recorded. The Flow Chart illustrates the number of studies identified related to the topic and successively the reasons for the exclusion of some of these studies, the remaining number of studies and the final number of studies included in the systematic review. The description of the studies included in the systematic review should be captured through tables as well where in separate columns: the authors of each paper, the year of publication and the country/countries (in case of transnational studies), the purpose/object of each study, the participants/sample of the study, the type of study (e.g. quantitative, qualitative, etc.) and the main findings will be presented.

References

References should follow the:

Vancouver reference style

https://help.ebsco.com/interfaces/EBSCO_Guides/EBSCO_Interfaces_User_Guide/Citing_Articles_in_Vancouver_ICMJE_Style

or

Harvard reference style

https://connect.ebsco.com/s/article/Citing-Articles-in-Harvard-Author-Date-Style?language=en_US

However, the same reference system must be observed uniformly throughout the paper, by faithfully following the respective international standards. Use of the DOI is highly encouraged.

Philological editing of texts

The authors are responsible for the proper linguistic and editorial editing of the texts, the lack of which constitutes a qualifying reason for therejection of a job.

After Acceptance

  • Use of the Digital Object Identifier

The Digital Object Identifier (DOI) may be used to cite and link to electronic documents. The DOI consists of a unique alpha-numeric character string which is assigned to a document by the publisher upon the initial electronic publication. The assigned DOI never changes. Therefore, it is an ideal medium for citing a document.

When you use a DOI to create links to documents on the web, the DOIs are guaranteed never to change.

  • Proof correction

Corresponding author will receive an e-mail with instructions for proofing the text, figures/tables of the article.The corrections should be sent back to the journal within 48 hours. It is important to ensure that all corrections are sent back to journal in one communication. Please check carefully before replying, as inclusion of any subsequent corrections cannot be guaranteed. Proofreading is solely author’s responsibility. Note that HEALTH Review may proceed with the publication of the article if no response is received.

  • Offprints

The corresponding author, who has paid its annual subscription fee to HHSMA, will receive a customized link providing free access to the final published version of the article in HEALTH Review journal.

Annual subscription to HHSMA amounts to 48.00 Euros. For first time registration, a total payment of 70.00 Euros is required, consisting of the annual subscription and 22,00 Euros (one-off fee cost).

Authors-not HHSMA members, after the peer review process and positive evaluation (required/or not modifications), will be informed in order to subscribe as HHSMA members before the work is published.

The e-journal issues are available to HHSMA members, who have paid their annual subscription fee. The HHSMA members may also submit papers to be published. All submitted papers are subject to blind peer-review. A charge is only applicable if authors desire the issue which contains their published work in print edition. This desire should be stated via an email sent to healthreview@eemyy.gr

The charged cost refers to the printing and postal expenses. Authors or libraries that order the journal in print edition, charged solely with printing costs at 10.00 Euro for single issue and 30.00 Euro for 3 issues, plus shipping/postal costs.