Author Instructions
All new manuscripts should be submitted via ScholarOne Manuscripts.
Public Health Research & Practice is an open-access, online-only journal with a strong focus on the connection between research, policy and practice.
It publishes innovative, high-quality papers that inform public health policy and practice, paying particular attention to innovations, data and perspectives from policy and practice.
- Publishing Policies
- International relevance
- Peer review
- Authorship
- Licence to publish
- Open access
- Journal editorial policy
- How to submit
- Use of inclusive language
- Article Types
- Preparation of Manuscript
- Summary text for the Table of Contents
- Research involving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
- Reporting of sex and gender
- Acknowledgements
- Data Availability Statement
- Ethics Approval
- Conflicts of interest
- Declaration of Funding
- References and Citations
- Abbreviations
- Page Proofs
- Reprints
Public Health Research & Practice insists on high standards of ethical behaviour throughout the publication process. Our journal editors work within the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). Further information on our policies can be found at https://www.publish.csiro.au/journals/publishingpolicies.
As Public Health Research & Practice is an online, open-access journal, we have national and international audiences, so authors must ensure that the context for their paper, especially the introduction, would be easily understood by someone from outside NSW or Australia. Please ensure the text is not too NSW-centric and use terminology that is widely understood internationally.
Authors are also strongly encouraged to offer observations that might reflect the specificity or generalisability of your findings and/or commentary to both Australian and international contexts. Consider questions such as: What value do your findings add to existing international evidence? What implications might they have more widely in Australia, and internationally? Where do your findings fit within the international context in your topic area?
Public Health Research & Practice is a peer-reviewed journal that uses single-anonymised peer review, where reviewers’ details are kept confidential, and authors’ details are attached to their manuscripts. The Editor-in-Chief is responsible for maintaining high-quality peer-review of papers submitted to the journal and works together with the editorial team to ensure a thorough and fair peer-review and the highest scientific publishing standards. All submissions undergo preliminary assessment by the Deputy Editor, who may reject a paper before peer review when it is outside the journal’s scope or is of insufficient quality. Associate Editors select reviewers and after at least two review reports are received, they make the decision whether to accept/reject or send a manuscript for revision. The final decision is made by the Editor-in-Chief.
For all articles, the journal mandates the CRediT (Contribution Roles for Taxonomy), allowing for detailed information about individual contributions to the work. Authors can provide this information at submission or at subsequent revision stages. The submitting author is responsible for ensuring that the contributions of all authors are correct. It is expected that all authors will have discussed, reviewed, and agreed to their individual contributions. The author contribution statement will be published with the final article.
For more information, please see the Contributor Role Taxonomy website.
The conditions around authorship for Public Health Research & Practice should follow the recommendations of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), for more information see https://www.publish.csiro.au/pu/PublishingPolicies.
For details regarding copyright, please see Copyright/Licence to Publish.
Public Health Research & Practice is a Gold Open Access title. Submissions will be subject to an Article Processing Charge (APC) if accepted and published in the journal: AUD1,900* / USD1,420 / GBP1,115 / EUR1,300. Sax Institute member organisations will be offered a member only rate of $1500. Contact the Sax Institute for more information.
*Inclusive of GST for Australian authors
Authors should obtain the appropriate clearances from their directors or supervisors before submission.
Submission of an article implies that it has not been previously published, is not being considered for publication elsewhere, and that the contents are original. If a submitted article overlaps considerably with previously published articles or articles submitted elsewhere, copies of these should be included with the submitted manuscript.
Authors are responsible for obtaining permission to use figures and tables previously published in other books or journals. It is also the responsibility of the authors to check reproduced materials against the original for accuracy.
To submit your paper, please use our online journal management system ScholarOne Manuscripts. If a first-time user, register via the ´Register here´ link, or use your existing username and password to log in. Select the ´Author Centre´ link and proceed.
These guidelines should be used to assist in identifying appropriate language, but are by no means exhaustive or definitive. Inclusive language comprises carefully chosen words and phrases that are respectful and promote the acceptance and value of all people. It is language which is free from words, phrases or tones that demean, insult, exclude, stereotype, or trivialise people on the basis of their membership of a certain group or because of a particular attribute. As such, inclusive language should make no assumptions about the beliefs or commitments of any reader, and contain nothing which might imply that one individual is superior to another on any grounds including but not limited to: age, gender, race, ethnicity, culture, sexual orientation, disability or health condition.
We encourage the use of plural nouns (e.g., ‘they’ as default wherever possible instead of ‘he/she’), and recommend avoiding the use of descriptors that refer to personal attributes, unless there is scientific or clinical relevance. For further guidance on inclusive language see the Inclusive language Style Manual. If there are questions about language use and/or publishing with regards to First Nations Peoples, please contact the Journal.
Research
The journal publishes:
Original research reporting quantitative or qualitative data,
- Reviews of published research
- Articles that improve methods of research relevant to policy and practice or the understanding of these methods
- We will occasionally publish study protocols that are very pertinent to policy and practice and are relevant to the aims of the journal. No more than one study protocol will be published per issue.
These manuscripts are peer-reviewed and can be commissioned or proffered.
Word count: 2500–3500 words (excluding references and figures, but including tables). The total word count includes the abstract and key points.
Abstract: 350 words covering the following information in structured abstract form: objectives and importance of study, study type, methods, results and conclusions.
Body: should be structured with five components: Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion and Conclusion.
Key points: 75 words in dot point form summarising what the article adds to the body of knowledge.
References: limited to 25 per research article and 50 per systematic review unless an arrangement is agreed to by negotiation with the Editor.
Images, tables and figures: up to four per article.
Internationally recognised reporting guidelines should be followed.
These include:
- CONSORT statement (Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials) statement for randomised trials
- TREND statement (Transparent Reporting of Evaluations with Nonrandomized Designs)
- STROBE statement (Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology)
- MOOSE (Meta-analysis of Observational Studies in Epidemiology)
- PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses)
Other study checklists are available from the EQUATOR Network (Enhancing the QUAlity and Transparency Of health Research).
Perspectives
The journal publishes:
- Overviews of emerging or topical issues or of new research developments of interest to public health policy and practice
- Concept development, frameworks or models
- Commentary on research articles published in the journal
These manuscripts are peer-reviewed and can be commissioned or proffered. The journal also publishes editorials from the Editor-in-Chief or the Editorial Board – these are not peer-reviewed.
Word count: 1000–1500 words (excluding references and figures, but including tables). The total word count includes the abstract and key points. Longer articles will be considered in cases where a topic of special interest for policymakers and practitioners warrants further discussion.
Abstract: Unstructured abstract of up to 350 words.
Key points: 75 words in dot point form summarising the key points of the article.
References: up to 15 per article.
In Practice
The journal publishes articles:
- That are led by practitioners working in policy, program development or service delivery and describe insights from their work in the field, based on analysis of empirical information (quantitative or qualitative).
For example, this might include descriptions of innovative programs or policies using a case study approach. Assertions about the effects of policies or programs should be substantiated by verifiable information and accessible performance data.
Papers that are simply descriptions of programs or services will generally not be accepted nor will ‘promotional pieces’ more suitable for a newsletter.
These manuscripts will be peer-reviewed against the criteria outlined above. They can be commissioned or proffered.
Word count: 1500–2000 words (excluding references and figures, but including tables). The total word count includes the abstract and key points.
Abstract: 350 words covering the following information in structured abstract form: objectives, type of program or service, methods, results, lessons learnt.
Key points: 75 words in dot point form summarising what the article adds to the body of knowledge.
References: up to 20 per article. Images, tables and figures: up to four per article.
Brief Reports
The journal publishes brief reports of:
- Research or data of relevance to public health practice, including original empirical research or evaluations
- Preliminary or novel findings that are limited in scope, e.g. of trials or pilot demonstrations, or of health promotion strategies in the process of implementation.
- Notable results that may be of interest to public health practitioners, but which make only a limited contribution to the knowledge base.
These manuscripts will be peer-reviewed and can be commissioned or proffered.
Word count: 600−800 words (excluding references and figures, but including tables).
References: Up to five per article. Images, tables and figures: one per article.
News & Views
We welcome your letters and will publish correspondence about our editorial content in this section. Letters should be submitted through ScholarOne Manuscripts. Letters should be no longer than 350 words and submitted no later than eight weeks after publication of the original article.
Papers should be submitted with double spacing throughout. The recommended text is 12-point Arial. All pages of the manuscript must be numbered consecutively, including those carrying references and tables. References are to be placed after the text. Do not number the lines in your manuscript.
Please remove all track changes and mark-up alterations. Superscript numbers for references should be manually inserted and checked against the numbering of the reference list at the end.
Paper titles
Titles should be brief and include as many keywords as necessary to indicate the contents of the paper and assist with electronic searching for the article.
Other features:
- No full point at end
- No capital letter after a colon
- Use abbreviations for Australian states and territories.
Reference requirements
Authors are responsible for the accuracy of references. The journal uses the Vancouver referencing system (see References below).
Abstract style
The format of an abstract is determined by the type of paper presented. Research articles and In Practice pieces require structured abstracts, while Perspectives require unstructured abstracts. In both cases, it is important that the abstract accurately reflects the content of the paper.
The following questions provide a guide for preparing an unstructured abstract:
- What topic or issue does your paper seek to address?
- Why is this topic important?
- What methods did you follow (if applicable)?
- What are the key points and/or findings of your paper?
Structured abstracts should contain headings as outlined in the Paper types information provided above.
Abstracts should not include references, acronyms, trade names or any abbreviations apart from those of Australian states and territories.
Keywords
A minimum of eight keywords are recommended to improve discoverability of your work. List the keywords under the abstract.
Tip: when writing keywords, think about the words you would enter in a search engine to find your work online.
Author list – style
- First and last names are given in full, and the initial of middle names are followed by a full point and a space (e.g. John F. Smith)
- Lists of names are separated by commas, with ‘and’ instead of the penultimate comma. The names and addresses of the organisations to which the authors are attached should be placed immediately beneath the list of names
- List professional affiliations e.g. Faculty of the Built Environment, UNSW Sydney; Communicable Diseases Branch, NSW Ministry of Health
- Include the city, state and country of each affiliated institution, but it is not necessary to repeat the name of the city or state if it is in the Institution’s name e.g. NSW Ministry of Health, University of Sydney
- Do not include academic qualifications or official positions
- Use uppercase, superscript letters (A,B,C…) to match names with organisations and addresses
- Place superscripts after the last name but before the punctuation
- Identify the corresponding author with ‘*’.
Affiliation example
James G BrownA,*, John AndrewsA,B and Brigid F SmithA
ADepartment of Biological Science, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia
BDepartment of Biology, Faculty of Science, University of Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
*Corresponding author: jbrown@research.edu.au
Figures, images and tables
See limits for figures/tables for each type of manuscript detailed above. Include only those figures/tables that are central to your work. Number tables and figures consecutively and cite them in the format Table 1, Fig. 1. During production your display items will be placed as close as possible to their first in text citation.
Figures and images
Figures and images should be simple; every line in a figure should have a purpose and should be relevant to the message of the figure. They should be complete in themselves without reference to the accompanying text. Information presented in the figure should not be repeated in the text.
Figures and images should be appropriately labelled and uploaded into ScholarOne separately to the body of the paper i.e. they should not be embedded in the Word document (see below on acceptable file formats).
If you are sourcing figures and images from elsewhere, you must ensure the appropriate copyright permissions are in place to support republication.
Illustrations and images should be high-resolution files: pictures cut and pasted from the internet are not acceptable. Images should be supplied at a minimum 300 dpi.
Formatting and style
- Acknowledge data sources below the figure
- Provide a descriptive figure title and a legend
- Label axes so that quantities increase from bottom to top and from left to right
- For comparative graphs displayed adjacently, use the same scale and range on the Y-axis
- Use plain, non-technical language in graph titles and headings, e.g. ‘new cases’ instead of ‘incidence’, ‘times more likely to die’ instead of ‘death ratio’
- Do not use 3D boxes or shading
- Use patterns as well as colour/shading to distinguish between columns or lines
- Do not use grid lines across graphs
- Do not place figures in boxes
- Spell out acronyms in the text at the bottom of the figure
- Use line or bar graphs in preference to dot graphs or pie charts. If using a pie chart, label the quantity represented by each segment
- To present discrete comparisons, use a bar graph, to present a trend, use a line graph
- Reduce the amount of information presented in graphs. Instead of layering information on one graph, create a series of graphs
File formats
- Supply all figures in original file types (editable, scalable, vector-based files)
- For maps supply .eps (encapsulated postscript) or editable PDF. Use a neutral colour for land areas and white for sea areas
- For diagrams supply .eps or.ai (Adobe Illustrator) or other original format files such as PowerPoint or editable PDF
- For graphs supply Excel data if possible as well as example charts
- Only supply raster-based files (jpeg, tiff) if it is impossible to supply vector-based files
- Raster-based files are not scalable or easily editable
- Supply all figures with editable text so they can be copyedited
- Include the following in the text of the Word document, not in the figure itself: figure number (e.g. Figure 1) and caption, sources, permissions, acknowledgments, references, caveats or other information
- Illustrations and images should be high-resolution files: pictures cut and pasted from the internet are not acceptable.
Tables
- Tables should be appropriately labelled. They should be simple without shading. Use lines at the top and bottom and below the heading row only. Do not use vertical lines or boxes.
- Tables should be self-contained without reference to the accompanying text, have a title that clearly describes what the table is about, and each row and column should have a heading.
- Information presented in the table should not be repeated in the text.
Formatting and style
- Supply as tables in the main Word document
- Acknowledge data sources below the table
- Explain abbreviations in the text below the table
- Include exact P value in tables
Text boxes
Boxes are useful for separating different types of information and are usually independent of the rest of the text. Boxes can be used for highlighting examples. Boxes should be inserted in the main Word document where you would like them to appear and numbered consecutively.
Summary text for the Table of Contents
For Research Articles, Perspectives, In Practice, Brief Reports, and News & Views authors are asked to provide a three-sentence paragraph of 50 to 80 words. This text will be included with your title in the table of contents that is available online; it is an opportunity to encourage people to read your article. Your first sentence should engage the reader, convincing them that this is an important area (i.e. what is known about the topic?). The second sentence should introduce the problem addressed in the paper and state your main discovery (i.e. what does the paper add?). The final sentence should describe how the results fit into the bigger picture (i.e. implications or impact of the discovery). It should be written for interested non-experts, such as journalists, teachers, government workers etc. The text should be free from scientific jargon and abbreviations (except for a few that are self-explanatory and universally understood, e.g. HIV/AIDS) and written at the level of an article in a science magazine. No references should be included. Colloquial terms and local details should not be included, and nor should the paper's country of origin (unless that is essential, pertinent information). Instead the statements should be framed globally.
Research involving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
When research involves Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, researchers need to consider how the research demonstrates the following six values, as described in the NHMRC Values and ethics guidelines.
- Spirit and integrity
- Reciprocity
- Respect
- Equality
- Survival and protection
- Responsibility
All research involving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people should have ethical approval from an Indigenous Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC) (such as the Aboriginal Health and Medical Research Council of NSW HREC), if the researchers have access to an Indigenous HREC. Papers on Indigenous health should have at least one Indigenous author or an explanation why not.
We also ask authors to ensure their manuscript addresses the checklist of items to include in health research involving Indigenous people as outlined in the CONSIDER (Consolidated criteria for strengthening reporting of health research involving Indigenous peoples) Statement. Click here to read the CONSIDER Statement (see checklist in Table 1).
Where the Journal receives a submission reporting on research involving indigenous populations from other countries, we would seek assurance on equivalent ethical approval and authorship.
With respect to the reporting of sex and gender, Public Health Research & Practice follows the guidance of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals:
Ensure correct use of the terms sex (when reporting biological factors) and gender (identity, psychosocial or cultural factors), and, unless inappropriate, report the sex and/or gender of study participants, and describe the methods used to determine sex and gender. If the study was done involving an exclusive population, for example in only one sex, authors should justify why, except in obvious cases (e.g., prostate cancer).
Discuss the influence or association of variables, such as sex and/or gender, on your findings, where appropriate, and the limitations of the data. For further guidance, please see:
The contribution of colleagues who do not meet all criteria for authorship should be acknowledged. Anyone included in the Acknowledgements section should have granted permission to be listed. Sources of financial support should be acknowledged in a separate ‘Declaration of Funding’ rather than here.
A ‘Data availability statement’ must be included indicating whether the data used to generate the results in the paper are available and, if so, where to access them. CSIRO Publishing’s data sharing policy provides more information and examples of what to include.
Cite any preprint to your paper here, e.g. ‘A preprint version of this article is available at [URL link]’.
Authors can get credit for their work by citing their research data in the reference list of their article. References should include at a minimum: authors, year of publication, title of dataset, record ID, publisher, DOI or URL if available.
For studies involving people, medical records, and human tissues, Public Health Research and Practice requires authors to document that a formally constituted review board (Institutional Review Board or Ethics committee) has granted approval for the research to be done, or that the principles outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki regarding human experimentation have been met. Investigators who do not have access to an institutional review board are required to provide a statement to the editor outlining why it was not possible to gain formal ethics approval. If the study is judged exempt from review, a statement from the committee is required. Authors should make an ethics statement within the manuscript to this effect. Authors should also state that the research was undertaken with appropriate informed consent of participants or guardians.
CSIRO Publishing follows the CSIRO guidelines on ethical human research and guidelines provided by the CSIRO Animal Ethics committee.
A ‘Conflicts of interest’ section must be included and should identify any financial or non-financial (political, personal, professional) interests/relationships that may be interpreted to have influenced the manuscript. If there are no conflicts, please include the statement ‘The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest’.
Declare all sources of funding for the research and/or preparation of the article. Include grant numbers where possible. Declare sponsor names along with explanations of the role of those sources, if any, in the preparation of the data or manuscript or the decision to submit for publication; or a statement declaring that the supporting source had no such involvement. If no funding has been provided for the research, please include the statement: ‘This research did not receive any specific funding’.
Important: Funding information should also be entered into the ScholarOne Manuscripts system, and information supplied there must match information declared on the manuscript.
PHRP uses the Vancouver style of referencing.
In text citations
Cite references in the main text using superscript numbers, after any punctuation.1 Multiple references may be cited at a single point with the identifying numbers separated by commas, without spaces.2,3–5 Cite the same reference at multiple locations using the same number.1,6
Reference list
List all cited references at the end of the paper, in numerical order of first mention in the text.6-14 Ensure each reference is only listed once and use that number for each relevant in-text citation. Use abbreviated journal names according to MEDLINE.1,2 The correct abbreviation for Public Health Research & Practice is Public Health Res Pract.
For references with more than four authors, you may use ‘et al.’ after the third author’s name.3 Do not use ellipses (…) to indicate missing authors. Reference subparts are not permitted.
See below for how to format common reference types used in PHRP.
Journal article (with page range)
1 Darlow B, Stotter G, McKinlay E. Private practice model of physiotherapy: professional challenges identified through an exploratory qualitative study. J Prim Health Care 2024; 16, 143-150. doi:10.1071/HC23150
Journal article (with article ID)
2 Lokmic-Tomkins Z, Bone A. Global health and climate action: achievements and imperatives from COP28. Public Health Res Pract 2024; 34(2): e3422412. doi:10.17061/phrp3422412
Preprint
3 Krick T, Shub DA, Verstraete N, et al. Amino acid metabolism conflicts with protein diversity [Preprint]. arXiv: 1403.3301v1; 2014. Available at https://128.84.21.199/abs/1403.3301v1
Dataset
4 Fiddes S, Pepler A, Saunders K, Hope P. Southern Australia’s climate regions. Version 1.0.0. [Dataset]. Zenodo; 2020. doi:10.5281/zenodo.4265471
Book chapter
5 May KA. Interview techniques in qualitative research: Concerns and challenges. In: Morse JM, editor. Qualitative nursing research: A contemporary dialogue. Sage Publications, Inc; 1991. pp. 188–201.
Book
6 Carpenter C, Suto M. Why choose qualitative research in rehabilitation. Milton, Australia: Wiley-Blackwell; 2008.
Thesis
7 Taafaki J. The lived experience of rural Tuvaluans navigating the Aotearoa New Zealand healthcare system. Doctoral Thesis, University of Otago, New Zealand; 2023.
Report, part of report, or Bulletin
8 Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners. Te Rangahau Ohu Mahi The Workforce Survey 2022 Time Series Report. Wellington, NZ: Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners; 2023.
9 IPCC. Summary for Policymakers. In: Shukla PR, Skea J, Slade R, Al Khourdajie A, van Diemen R, McCollum D, Pathak M, Some S, Vyas P, Fradera R, Belkacemi M, Hasija A, Lisboa G, Luz S, Malley J, editors. Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change. Contribution of Working Group III to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge
University Press: Cambridge, UK and New York, NY, USA; 2022. pp. 3–48. doi:10.1017/9781009157926.001
Conference Proceedings
10 Francis C. How mobile technologies and gaming are improving HIV programming for key populations in Vietnam. In: Smith A, Jones B, editors. Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific; 18–22 November 2013; Bangkok, Thailand. Amsterdam: Elsevier; 2013. p. 5–11.
Web-based material (URL or DOI)
11 The Institute of Environmental Science and Research Ltd. New Zealand Sexually Transmitted Infection (STI) Surveillance Dashboard 2021; 2021. Available at https://www.esr.cri.nz/our-services/consultancy/public-health/sti/ [Accessed 21 April 2021]
Standard
12 Environmental management — Guidelines for environmental due diligence assessment. ISO14015:2022. International Organization for Standardization: Geneva; 2022. Available at https://www.iso.org/standard/78014.html
Patent
13 Lois-Caballe C, Baltimore D, Qin X-F. Method for Expression of Small RNA Molecules within a Cell. US Patent Office: US7732193B2; 2010.
Define abbreviations and acronyms when they are first mentioned in the abstract and the body of the text. Do not include full points in acronyms: thus CSIRO (not C.S.I.R.O.).
The accepted paper will be passed to the production team, where it will be pre-edited for style, copyedited and typeset. The corresponding author will then receive an email with a link to complete an online proof check of the paper.
The online proof will contain queries from the production team and copyeditor. All queries require a response. This is the final check prior to publication.
Complete the proof check within 2 business days to ensure there are no delays in publication.
Authors can download the final PDF version from the website and reuse according to the terms of the selected Open Access licence.'.
