Submissions

Author Guidelines

Scope and submissions

The Journal of Health and Education (JOHE) is published annually by Health and Education Research Network, Islamabad, Pakistan. It considers original research and review articles in medical sciences, allied health, rehabilitation and health professions education. Submissions are accepted throughout the year through the journal's OJS system. Editorial enquiries: info@johe.pk.

Register or sign in at the journal login page and submit through OJS. Do not submit substantially the same manuscript to another journal simultaneously. Disclose related manuscripts, overlapping datasets, preprints, theses and conference abstracts in the cover letter. All authors must approve the submission.

Files to prepare

• Separate title page: article title; all author names, affiliations and countries; corresponding author's email and postal address; ORCID identifiers where available; author contributions; funding; conflicts of interest; and acknowledgements.
• Anonymized manuscript: title, abstract, keywords, main text, references, tables and figure legends. Remove author names and affiliations, identifying acknowledgements, tracked-change identities and identifying file properties. Cite your own work in the third person.
• Supporting files: figures, supplementary material, applicable reporting checklist, ethics approval or exemption documentation, and relevant registration or protocol details. Provide confidential documents separately and identify them as confidential.
• Cover letter: explain the contribution and fit with the journal, disclose prior dissemination and related submissions, and identify any matters requiring editorial attention.

Do not upload signed patient consent forms or identifiable patient records as public supplementary material. Provide required evidence through an appropriate confidential route agreed with the editorial office.

General formatting

Submit an editable Microsoft Word file. Use Times New Roman, 12-point text, 1.5 line spacing, 1-inch margins and numbered pages. Use clear headings and consistent English. The journal does not impose an overall manuscript word limit, but writing must be concise and sufficiently detailed for critical appraisal and reproducibility.

Title, abstract and keywords

Use a specific, informative title and identify the study design where appropriate. Provide a structured abstract of no more than 250 words under Background, Objective, Materials and Methods, Results, and Conclusion. Report the principal findings accurately, including relevant numerical results. Provide up to five specific keywords; use MeSH terms where appropriate.

Original research

Organize the main text as Background or Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, and Conclusion. State the research question and objective clearly.

The Methods should describe the design, setting, dates, participant selection, sample-size rationale, measurements, interventions or exposures, outcomes, ethical approval, consent, analysis and software. Explain missing-data handling and relevant sensitivity analyses. Distinguish prespecified analyses from exploratory work.

Present results logically without unnecessary duplication across text, tables and figures. Report denominators, effect estimates and uncertainty where appropriate; use exact p values where informative. Interpret findings in relation to study limitations and relevant evidence. Do not infer causation from a design that does not support it or make claims beyond the results.

Review articles

Define the review question and explain the approach to identifying and evaluating literature. Systematic reviews should follow PRISMA and applicable extensions, report complete reproducible search strategies and search dates, and describe selection, risk-of-bias assessment and synthesis. Provide registration or protocol information where available and explain deviations. Narrative reviews must distinguish evidence from interpretation and describe how sources were selected.

Tables, figures and supplementary material

The current standard limit is two tables and two figures in the main manuscript. Contact the editorial office if additional essential material is needed; supporting material may be submitted separately. Provide tables as editable text, numbered in order of first citation, with titles and explanatory footnotes. Avoid vertical rules and decorative shading. Supply figures with clear labels, adequate resolution and separate legends. Identify reused or adapted material and provide required permissions. Do not manipulate images in a way that alters the scientific meaning.

References

Use Vancouver style, numbered in order of first citation. Every in-text citation must have a matching reference and vice versa. Verify author names, titles, publication details and identifiers against the source. Use consistent recognized journal abbreviations. Include valid DOIs when the cited source has one; do not invent identifiers. Cite relevant original sources, identify retracted material when discussion requires its citation, and avoid irrelevant or coercive citations.

Required declarations

• Ethics approval or exemption, including the committee, reference and date, as applicable.
• Consent to participate and consent for publication, where relevant.
• Funding sources and the funder's role, or an explicit statement of no external funding.
• Financial and non-financial conflicts of interest, or an explicit declaration of none.
• Individual author contributions and acknowledgement of other assistance.
• Data availability and any access restrictions.
• Trial or protocol registration where applicable, including timing.
• Substantive AI use, including tools, purpose and human verification, where applicable.

Authors must meet all four ICMJE authorship criteria. Clinical trials should be prospectively registered. Ethical exemptions, consent waivers and retrospective registration must be accurately described. Do not identify authors in the file sent for anonymized review; provide complete declarations separately for editorial use and restore them before publication.

Review and revision

JOHE uses double-anonymized peer review. Manuscripts undergo initial editorial screening; original research follows the journal's requirement for at least one national and one international reviewer. Editors may obtain additional expert advice. Review duration varies with reviewer availability and the revisions required; no acceptance or publication deadline is guaranteed. For revisions, provide a point-by-point response and an anonymized revised manuscript. Acceptance depends on a satisfactory scientific and ethical assessment.

Fees, access and copyright

The APC is PKR 25,000 for local authors and USD 100 for international authors. Confirm the applicable category and payment arrangements with the editorial office; waiver or discount requests require written confirmation. Payment does not guarantee acceptance.

Authors retain copyright. Published articles carry the stated Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International license unless the individual article specifies otherwise. Appropriate credit is required; commercial reuse and distribution of adaptations require separate permission unless allowed by law.

Publication ethics and further policies

Authors must report authentic research, acknowledge sources and cooperate with legitimate editorial queries. Similarity reports are assessed in context rather than treated as conclusive evidence. Alleged misconduct, complaints and post-publication concerns are handled under the journal's policies. Substantive errors may require a linked correction, expression of concern or retraction.

Read the complete Journal Policies, including authorship, peer review, ethics, data sharing, AI use, appeals, licensing and fees, before submission.