African Journal of Health Economics
Journal / African Journal of Health Economics / Submissions

 

AJHE receives manuscripts of the following forms: original research articles, review papers, methods articles, perspective, and letters to the editor. Manuscripts which have a public health focus must sufficiently address health economics and/or health policy implications of the findings of the article to be considered for publication. Those focussing on health policy analysis must provide relevant bodies of theory on which the reviews are based. Where none exists, sufficient justification for not presenting such must be provided.

Authors should note that AJHE addresses a range of international readership including policy makers at national and international levels, programme managers, academics, public health practitioners and other readers interested in application of health economics and policies especially in African countries. It also provides information about such areas of interest to the broader international community that are involved in financial and technical assistance to various countries in Africa. It is therefore expected that submissions must have a high overall quality acceptable in an international journal. The editors reserve the right to reject manuscripts that do not meet such standards.

EDITORIAL POLICY AND PROCESS
The AJHE operates a peer review system and currently receives articles which must be submitted through the editorial office email. The process of review is as follows:

• Following submission, the corresponding author receives an email notification of the receipt of his article and the article is assigned a number.
• The manuscript will undergo an initial review by the editors to ensure they comply with requirements for the journal and that they are relevant to the readers of the journal. Authors of manuscripts not acceptable at this stage are informed of the decision of the editors. The editors reserve the right to consider an article unsuitable for publication and such decisions are final and will not warrant any other correspondence. Articles considered suitable but which do not follow the journal format may also be returned to the authors for modifications before being sent for further review.
•  Manuscripts which go through the editorial review are sent to at least two reviewers for detailed assessment.
• Authors are notified of the decision of reviewers. These may involve an acceptance of the article with or without minor or major revisions, or rejection of the article. Once such decisions are made, the corresponding author will receive the appropriate notification.
• Accepted articles with corrections are sent to corresponding authors who have a maximum period of 6 weeks to respond to reviewers’ comments and are expected to return the corrected manuscript with the responses, for further review and acceptance. Authors will be notified as soon as the article is published.

AUTHORSHIP
A person is included as an author only if he/she has made substantive contributions to a published study. It is essential that authors fulfil the criteria for authorship for manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals (http://www.icmje.org/ ). Specifically, those included as authors should have contributed to at least one of the following: conception of the study, development of study protocols, execution of the work, data analysis and interpretation. Additionally, all authors must have contributed to the writing of the manuscript and must have approved the final version of the manuscript. It is important to include those who were part of the study and who met the above criteria as authors as conflicts of interest may arise which are embarrassing and for which the editors would bear no responsibility for their outcomes.

FORMAT FOR SUBMISSIONS
Manuscripts should be submitted in English with care taken to ensure correctness of grammar and spellings. All submissions must be double-line spaced and have a margin of at least 2cm all round. Illustrations and tables must be on separate pages, and not be incorporated into the text. Manuscript files must be in the form of Microsoft office (1997-2003 but not 2007), MS PowerPoint, MS Excel, and jpeg (for pictures). All other formats are not acceptable at this time. Manuscripts should generally meet the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals (available at: http://www.icmje.org).

MANUSCRIPT SECTIONS
Title page: This should be concise and informative and should include name a) Manuscript title (not exceeding 20 words), b) Authors' details (full names, academic degrees, and affiliations and email addresses); c) correspondence details (name and address to be used, fax number, telephone number, and e-mail address); d) key words or phrases (3-6); e) Manuscript form (Original research article, Review, Methods article, Perspectives, Letter to the Editor).

Abstract: This should be structured and must not exceed 250 words. Abstracts should include the following sections: background, methods, findings, and conclusion(s). Abstracts should not include references and use of abbreviations should be limited. Abstracts should appropriately reflect the contents of the text.

Text: This should include: Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, and Conclusion(s).

Author contributions: Contributions made by included authors should be specified. Authors’ initials rather than full names should be used to identify authors here.

Conflict of interest: Any conflicts of interest amongst the authors/contributors, and any related to the funding agencies or institutions must be described. Any direct or indirect financial interest, issues that might potential bias the study, reported findings, conclusions or implications, or conflicts related to academic competition due to the authorship must be described where they exist. Where none exists, the authors should enter ‘None declared’ against this section.

Funding: Sources of funding for the study or the writing up of the manuscript should be declared and if none has been received authors should enter ‘None’ against this section.

Acknowledgement: If any. Contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship could be acknowledged.

References: References should follow the format for VANCOUVER referencing (see http://www.icmje.org). The first six authors of a work should be named, and where there are more than six authors, the six should be followed by “et al.” Articles not adhering to this format will be returned to authors. Bibliographic software such are ENDNOTE can be used. References should not include submitted papers which have not yet been accepted for publication. Typical examples of references are as follows:

Journal articles

1. Culyer AJ, Wagstaff A. Equity and equality in health and health care. Journal of Health Economics. 1993;12(1):431-57.
2. De Allegri M, Kouyate B, Becher H, Gbangou A, Pokhrel S, Sanon M, et al. Understanding enrolment in community health insurance in sub-Saharan Africa: a population-based case-control study in rural Burkina Faso. Bull World Health Organ. 2006 Nov;84(11):852-8.

Entire Book

1. Billoski TV. Introduction to Paleontology. 6th ed. New York: Institutional Press; 1992.

Book section/chapter

1. Schwartz MT, Billoski TV. Greenhouse hypothesis: effect on dinosaur extinction. In: Jones BT, Lovecraft NV, editors. Extinction. New York: Barnes and Ellis; 1990. p. 175-89.

Tables and Figures: These should be properly labelled in a way that is easily understood. They should be presented with their titles at the end of the text and not incorporated or embedded into it. However, the text should include the legend (example table 1, figure 1) in the appropriate locations for all the included tables and figures.

OTHER ISSUES OF NOTE
Colours: Where figures or pictures are prepared in colour to enhance their understanding, they may be reproduced in the journal without additional charges but this will be at the discretion of the editors.

Copyright: Manuscripts submitted to the journal must be original, must not be under consideration for publication elsewhere. In addition, they should not have been previously published (except as an abstract or preliminary report). Articles which have been accepted for publication must not be published elsewhere without the consent of the AJHE editorial board.

Ethical considerations: Manuscript describing the results of research that has involved human subjects must contain clear statements indicating whether and where ethical approval has been obtained. It is expected that such studies would have obtained approval from relevant ethical institutions and that informed consent was also obtained from the participants or their legal guardians (for minors).