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Start SubmissionThe Sri Lankan Journal of Health Sciences is the official journal published by the Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, University of Peradeniya. Published bi-annually, the peer-reviewed open-access journal provides a forum for researchers to publish their research and scholarly work including, but not limited to Nursing, Medical Laboratory Sciences, Physiotherapy, Pharmacy, Radiography and Radiotherapy. It aims to support improving health and health care for people through research, policy, practice and education. The journal publishes rigorously conducted original research, literature reviews, letters, opinions, short communications, case reports, brief reports, mini-reviews, and protocols,….; all of which add new knowledge and advance health care. The Sri Lankan Journal of Health Sciences targets an audience of multidisciplinary healthcare professionals, including academics, nurses, medical laboratory technicians, physiotherapists, pharmacists, radio-graphists, clinicians, policymakers and many more.
Journal’s vision: Enhance health care delivery by supporting research and innovation
Journal’s mission: Our mission is to improve health and health care for people through research, policy, practice and education
Information for authors
All Sri Lankan Journal of Health Sciences submissions are handled via the Sri Lanka Journals Online (SLJOL) platform (https://www.sljol.info/site/), which provides detailed instructions on following the submission process.
To submit a manuscript and check the status of submitted manuscripts, you need to have an account with the Sri Lankan Journal of Health Sciences. Please register here if you do not have an account (https://sljhs.sljol.info/register/).
The manuscripts submitted to the Sri Lankan Journal of Health Sciences should be consistent with the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals, as recommended by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).
The manuscripts must be submitted electronically using the online submission platform by clicking on the Start Submission button on the homepage of the journal. Detailed instructions on submitting are available on the website itself, and the process is self-explanatory.
Author Guidelines
Sections
All the manuscripts submitted to the Sri Lankan Journal of Health Sciences should be prepared in accordance with the manuscript preparation guidelines. Use the template to draft the manuscript (download the template). Before online submission, please read and carefully prepare the manuscript according to journal-specific guidelines and the information below.
The number of figures and tables in the summary below refers to the total number of both; for example, letters can have either one figure or one table, not one of each.
Each submitted manuscript will be reviewed by the Editor-in-Chief and editorial committee, and the initial decision to proceed with the peer review process or reject.
Original Research
We welcome high-quality original publications in biomedical sciences and epidemiology (experimental and observational studies). All the Original Research manuscripts should follow Introduction, Methods, Results and Discussion format.
Word limit: ≤ 3000
Abstract: Structured, ≤ 250 words
References: ≤ 50
Tables and Figures: ≤ 6
Editorials
The Editorial board commissions editorials. Submissions can be considered after consultation with the Editorial board only.
Word limit: ≤ 1500
Abstract: No
References: ≤ 15
Tables and Figures: ≤ 2
Systematic reviews and meta-analyses
Systematic reviews and meta-analyses should provide additional information to the literature beyond the information available from the source studies. Reporting should follow PRISMA (http://www.prisma-statement.org) guidelines. Meta-analysis of observational data should follow MOOSE (https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/192614) guidelines.
Word limit: ≤ 4000
Abstract: Structured, ≤ 250 words
References: ≤100
Tables and Figures: ≤ 5
Narrative Review articles
High-quality reviews should inform and educate reviewers and stimulate debate around clinical and scientific topics. The literature review should be up to date, represent state of the art in their specific field, and not overlap substantially with any recently published reviews on similar topics.
Word limit: ≤ 4000
Abstract: Structured, ≤ 250 words
References: ≤100
Tables and Figures: ≤ 5
Mini-Review articles
Minireviews are summaries of recent insights or advances in specific research areas within the scope of the Sri Lankan Journal of Health Sciences. A key aim of minireviews is to evaluate recent progress in a specific field, put recent research findings in context, present current developments in a critical and focused manner, and explain future directions for research as appropriate.
Word limit: ≤ 3000
Abstract: Unstructured, ≤ 200 words
References: ≤50
Tables and Figures: ≤ 2
Research Letters
Letters to the Editor are brief reports that include research that is not sufficient for a full paper but may represent original observations
Word limit: ≤ 1000
Abstract: No
References: ≤ 15
Tables and Figures: ≤ 2
Correspondence
Correspondence should be written in response to previous content published in the Sri Lankan Journal of Health Sciences. Correspondence for publication in response to previously published content should be submitted to the editorial office within eight weeks of the publication of the original item.
Word limit: ≤ 800
Abstract: No
References: ≤ 10
Tables and Figures: ≤ 1
Case reports
A case report is a short article describing and interpreting an individual case of a single clinical observation. It makes an essential scientific observation or valuable contribution to recognising, managing or preventing a disease or condition.
Word limit: 1000
Abstract: Structured, ≤ 200 words
References: ≤ 10
Tables and Figures: ≤ 2
Case Series
A case series is a short article of a group of case reports involving patients given similar treatment.
Word limit: ≤ 1200
Abstract: Structured, ≤ 200 words
References: ≤ 15
Tables and Figures: ≤ 2
Manuscript Preparation Guidelines
Manuscripts should be submitted in American English and drafted in the journal template Microsoft Word document file (please download the template here). The font type should be Times New Roman with a font size of 11 in the main text, and all parts of the manuscript should be single spacing, including table titles and figure captions. Line numbers should be included starting from the manuscript title.
The first submission should include,
Cover letter
A cover letter (please download journal cover letter template) should be uploaded to explain why your paper should be published in the Sri Lankan Journal of Health Sciences. This should be uploaded as the first manuscript file in your submission, designated as ‘Cover Letter’.
Main Text File
The text file should be presented in the following order:
Title Page:
The points 1-4 above, Main Text File should include in the Title Page
A short informative title - specific and reflect the study; in bold, uppercase letters and centre aligned; organisms scientific names should be written in uppercase italics.
Author name(s) – first name, middle initials (if relevant) and last name; in bold, lowercase letters and left-aligned; indicate the corresponding author by an asterisk
Affiliation(s) - The authors’ institutional affiliations where the work was conducted
The name and address of the corresponding author should be separately and clearly indicated with email and telephone details.
Abstract
The abstract should be structured (if not specified, please check Article Types for more information), which include (i) Background, (ii) Materials and methods, (iii) Results, and (iv) Conclusions of the study described in an interpretive way.
Keywords
Please provide up to five pertinent keywords.
Main text
Sections as appropriate for the type of article.
Author Contributions
A short paragraph specifying their individual contributions must be provided for research articles with several authors. The following statements should be used “Conceptualization, X.X. and Y.Y.; methodology, X.X.; software, X.X.; validation, X.X., Y.Y. and Z.Z.; formal analysis, X.X.; investigation, X.X.; resources, X.X.; data curation, X.X.; writing—original draft preparation, X.X.; writing—review and editing, X.X.; visualisation, X.X.; supervision, X.X.; project administration, X.X.; funding acquisition, Y.Y. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.” Authorship must be limited to those who have contributed substantially to work reported.
Funding
Please add: “This research received no external funding” or “This research was funded by the name of FUNDER, grant number XXX” and “The APC was funded by XXX”. Check carefully that the details are accurate and use the standard spelling of funding agency names at https://search.crossref.org/funding. Any errors may affect your future funding.
Acknowledgements
Acknowledge anyone who does not meet the criteria for authorship or is not covered in funding sections. This may include administrative and technical support or donations in kind (e.g., materials used for experiments). Acknowledgement of anonymous reviewers is not appropriate.
Conflicts of Interest
Declare conflicts of interest or state “The authors declare no conflict of interest.” Authors must identify and declare any personal circumstances or interests that may be perceived as inappropriately influencing the representation or interpretation of reported research results. Any role of the funders in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results must be declared in this section. If there is no role, please state “The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results”.
References
All references should be numbered consecutively in the order of appearance in the main text.
In-text citations should cite references in consecutive order using Arabic numerals. In the text, reference numbers should be placed in brackets ( ) and placed before the punctuation; for example, (1), (1–3) or (1,3).
Sample references follow:
Journals: All references should be listed in lower case with the first letters of authors’ names—article title and abbreviated journal names should be used. Include all the authors’ names where the total number of authors are three or less than three; when there are more than four authors, list the first three followed by ‘et al.’.
Wittink H, Oosterhaven J. Patient education and health literacy. Musculoskelet Sci Pract. 2018,38: 120-7.
Gray KM, Rubinstein ML, Prochaska JJ et al. High-dose and low-dose varenicline for smoking cessation in adolescents: a randomised, placebo-controlled trial. Lancet Child Adolesc Health. 2020, 4: 837-45.
Books:
Ahrens W, Pigeot I (Eds). Handbook of Epidemiology, 1st ed. Berlin, Germany, Springer, 2007. 1639 p.
Book Chapters:
Baker FM, Lightfoot OB. Psychiatric care of ethnic elders. In Culture, ethnicity, and mental illness, 1st ed; Gaw AC (Eds); Washington, DC, American Psychiatric Press, 1993. pp 517-552.
Web-sources:
American Cancer Society. Cancer Facts & Figures 2019. http://www.cancer.org/downloads/STT/CAFF2003PWSecured.pdf (Accessed 3 April 2020).
Tables
Tables should be self-contained and should not duplicate the manuscript’s text information. It should not be copy-pasted as images. All abbreviations must be defined in footnotes. Footnote symbols: †, ‡, §, ¶, should be used (in that order) and *, **, *** should be reserved for P-values. Figures or tables that exceed 1 page in length need to be uploaded separately as supplementary materials.
Figures
Figures should be of the highest quality possible. For images (photographs or photographic images) require a file no less than 300 dpi. Ideal file formats are TIFF or JPG. Figure captions should be concise but comprehensive – the figure and its captions must be understandable without reference to the manuscript’s main text.
Supplementary materials
Provide the Supplementary Materials in separate file/s. The Supplementary Materials is an optional section that can contain details and data supplemental to the main text—for example, explanations of experimental details that would disrupt the flow of the main text but remain crucial to understanding and reproducing the research shown; figures of replicates for experiments of which representative data is shown in the main text can be added here. Mathematical proofs of results not central to the paper can be added as an appendix. Supplementary Materials must be cited in the main text. In the Supplementary Materials, Figures, Tables, etc., should be labelled starting with “S”—e.g., Figure S1, Figure S2, Table S1, etc. The supplementary Tables and Figures format should be the same as the in-text Tables and Figures.
General Style Points
Article Processing Fees
The journal does NOT charge an article submission fee or article processing fee.
Online submission of Manuscript
After the online submission of your manuscript, you will be notified by e-mail on receipt of the submitted online draft and provided with a manuscript number. Please use this manuscript number in all future correspondence with the editorial office. The manuscripts must be submitted electronically using the Start Submission button at the top of this page.
Author Declaration Form
The author declaration form should be submitted as a PDF file and the manuscript in the first submission. All the authors should sign the form. Please download the Author Declaration form here.
Submission Checklist
Authors should adhere to the manuscript preparation guidelines and be required to include the following items, and submissions may be returned to authors that do not adhere to these guidelines.
Submission of Revised Manuscripts After Reviewer Comments
Revised manuscripts should include:
All the comments provided to the manuscript should be addressed. Responses to Comments made by the Reviewers, Editor, and Editorial Office must be addressed in a point-by-point response letter; the comments are labelled as 'COMMENT' and 'RESPONSE' for each item.
Marked Manuscript. Use the “track change” option in Microsoft Word to indicate any text that was not part of the original manuscript but has now been added and identify any text that was part of the original manuscript but has now been deleted. Changes made on Figures and Tables should be clearly visible and provided as separate files labelled as 'Figure x Marked'. Line numbering should be used in the Marked Manuscript and numbers mentioned in the point-by-point response to the comments.
Unmarked Manuscript. The Unmarked Manuscript should be your final revised manuscript in Microsoft Word format without any track changes.
As part of the submission process, authors are required to check off their submission's compliance with all of the following items, and submissions may be returned to authors that do not adhere to these guidelines.
Authors who publish with Sri Lankan Journal of Health Sciences agree to the following term: Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work.
Should any authors require that the published article deviate from the above (e.g. copyright needs to reside with your employer or an alternative license is required - e.g. authors who are Crown employees), you must add this request to your cover letter to the editor. The submitting author is responsible for requesting (and following up) this deviation from the standard licensing agreement. All deviations from the above must be agreed in writing as early as possible in the submission process and must be in place before the article is sent for typesetting.
The names and email addresses entered in this journal site will be used exclusively for the stated purposes of this journal and will not be made available for any other purpose or to any other party. The full privacy policy can be viewed here.