Call for Manuscripts

The Tanzania Journal of Health Research (TJHR) is a no-fee, open-access, peer-reviewed Journal published online at https://www.ajol.info/index.php/thrb. It is published four times yearly (January, April, July, and October) by the National Institute for Medical Research in Tanzania.

TJHR publishes articles from various disciplines, including primary and biomedical sciences, behavioural sciences, epidemiology, clinical sciences, health economics and health policy, operations research and implementation sciences, and social sciences and humanities. It aims to advance health sciences by publishing high-quality research and review articles that communicate new ideas and developments in biomedical and health research. 

TJHR accepts articles written in English; spelling should be based on British English. Manuscripts should be prepared following the fifth edition of the “Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals” established by the Vancouver Group (International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, ICMJE). For additional details not covered in the ICMJE Recommendations, EAHRJ refers to the American Medical Association (AMA) Manual of Style (10th edition), published by the American Medical Association and Oxford University Press. The complete document, updated October 2001, is available at http://www.icmje.org/index.html. The manuscripts should be addressed exclusively to the TJHR. Their simultaneous presentation to other journals, whether regarding the text, tables or figures, is prohibited in their totality or part.

TJHR does not limit the length of papers submitted explicitly but encourages authors to be concise to reach our audience effectively. In some cases, providing more detail in appendices may be appropriate. Formatting approaches such as subheadings, lists, tables, figures, and highlighting key concepts are highly encouraged.

Summaries and single-sentence tag lines or headlines— abstracted sentences containing keywords that convey the essential messages—are also standard. The authors must sign and submit a declaration following the copyright agreement. Original scientific articles should follow the conventional structure: Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results and Discussion.

Publication Scheduling:

It is published quarterly in January, April, July and October as an organ of the Tanzania Health Research User’s Trust Fund.  We seek articles that reflect and showcase a vibrant community of practice across many health contexts. There is no publication fee.

 Categories of Articles

1. Original research articles: Research articles that make a substantial, original contribution to research, practice or policy in any biomedical or health research area. Research articles are contributions that have the purpose of publication of original, unpublished research, which may be reproduced and generalized. They should be between 3000 and 6000 words, excluding tables, figures and references. The original research article should follow the conventional structure: Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results and Discussion.
2. Short communications: Short communications are intended to provide preliminary research results or unpublished hypotheses of public health relevance. Short communications may contain an abstract and can be organized either along the lines of a regular manuscript or without subdivisions. The accompanying abstract should not exceed 200 words. Authors may also consider combining the results and discussion sections. They should be up to 2500 words and include a table or figure, preferably not more than five references.
3. Letters to the Editor: These include letters that discuss recent articles published in TJHR or report on original research or significant findings. They should not exceed 600 words and five references.
4. Reviews: TJHR welcomes review papers on biomedical and health research themes. The review should emphasize the implications of the reviewed literature for future practical application and policy implications. A review paper should not exceed 6000 words.
5. Clinical studies: TJHR supports the registration of trials as an essential initiative to improve the reporting of clinical studies. Trial registers that currently meet all of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors and World Health Organization requirements.

Manuscripts for publication in the Tanzania Journal of Health Research should be prepared by the fifth edition of the “Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts submitted to Biomedical Journals” established by the Vancouver Group (International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, ICMJE). The complete document, updated October 2001, is available at http://www.icmje.org/index.html. The manuscripts should be addressed exclusively to the TJHR. The authors must sign and submit a declaration of the copyright agreement. The original scientific article should follow the conventional structure: Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results and Discussion.

Preparing a manuscript: Manuscripts for publication in the Tanzania Journal of Health Research should be prepared by the fifth edition of the “Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals” established by the Vancouver Group (International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, ICMJE). The complete document, updated October 2001, is available at http://www.icmje.org/index.html.

The manuscripts should be addressed exclusively to the TJHR. Their simultaneous presentation to other journals regarding the text, tables or figures, whether in their totality or part, is prohibited. The authors must sign and submit a declaration of the copyright agreement. Original scientific articles should follow the conventional structure: Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results and Discussion as described in detail below:

1. Title: It should be short; omit phrases like “Investigation on…’ “Preliminary report of …’; numbered series articles followed by a subtitle are not allowed. Taxonomic affiliation and authority should be given in the abstract or the keywords but not in the Title. Complete addresses should appear under the names of the author(s); the title page should also contain the name and address of the person to whom the proofs should be sent. If the author’s address has changed, his full present address should also appear on the title page. A short list of terms suitable for indexing should be included.
2. Abstract: A summary of your research paper.
3. Introduction: It should be short, defining the problem studied, stating its importance and highlighting the present gaps in knowledge. The introduction serves multiple purposes. It presents the background to your study, introduces your topic and aims, and gives an overview of the paper. You should also cite what is already known about the study. The number of citations should be limited.
4. Materials and methods: All information must be given so that it is pretty clear how the experiments were done: any interested colleague should be able to verify the experiments from this information. However, details about already commonly used methods and materials must be omitted. Information about the origin of the source materials is necessary.
5. Results: This section should be limited to the description of the findings achieved with no inclusion of interpretation. The results are usually presented in tables and figures, and the text must clearly explain this information. Tables and figures should be limited to a total of 5 and should include only essential data. Tables and figures should only be used for substantial amounts of data. Otherwise, the information should be inserted in the text. Avoid repeating data from tables and figures in the text as much as possible. Numerals are always used with abbreviated units (e.g. 3 mm^2, not three mm²). In all other cases, whole numbers above 10, fractions and decimals should be expressed as numerals, and whole numbers between 1 and 10 should be spelt out in full. All units are to conform to the International System (S.I) standards.
6. Discussion: It should include the study's limitations, a comparison with the available literature, the authors' interpretation, and a conclusion. The findings should be discussed in relation to what is already known, and indications of the course for further research may be provided. Scientific and policy implications of the significant findings may be mentioned. Within space limitations, the author can express his opinion, even if editors or referees differ from him.
7. References:
   1. For citations in the text, use name and year system, e.g. (Magesa, 1998); for two authors, use the ampersand (&); e.g. (Ijumba & Kitua, 2004); for more than two authors, use et al. g. (Lusingu et al., 2004). If referring to personal communication, use initials, e.g. (B.K. Mayala, per comm.). Use unpubl., e.g. (M. Urassa, unpubl) for unpublished results. The latter two categories, however, cannot be put on the reference list.
   2. For citations in the reference section: list each reference alphabetically on the first author’s last name; if a single author has more than one contribution, list each chronologically; in cases of more than one author, list each reference alphabetically on 2^nd, the 3^rd, etc. author’s names.  Publications in preparation or submitted can only appear in the reference list if accepted, mentioning the Journal's year of publication and volume with the reference note ‘in press’ added. Journal titles should be given in full.
   3. Please include a list of all references cited at the end of the article in the order they were mentioned in the text. References should be numbered consecutively in the order they are first mentioned in the text. Identify references in text, tables, and legends by Arabic numerals in superscript.

 Submission of the Manuscript:

1. Please submit your paper through our online submission using the following URL: https://www.ajol.info/index.php/thrb/login. After creating an account, the online system will ask you to enter information about your paper, such as the title, abstract, and author names. Then, you will be instructed to upload your title page, paper, and any accompanying figures, tables, photos, and supplementary materials.
2. Please upload the primary paper with references in either Microsoft Word document (DOC, DOCX) or rich text format (RTF).  The authors are responsible for ensuring the excellent quality of the published article's tables, figures, tables, and any other images.
3. The resolution of photos should be approximately 300 dpi (dots per inch), and line or halftone figures and illustrations should be approximately 600 dpi. If you submit photographs with identifiable people, you must also submit a form to grant permission for TJHR to use those images before final publication.

Conflict of Interest: All authors must complete the ICMJE Form for Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest. You do not need to submit the forms to the Journal. Instead, the corresponding author should keep the forms on file if a question arises about competing interests related to your submission. However, the online submission system will ask you to declare any competing interests for all authors based on the ICMJE Uniform Disclosure Form. If there are no competing interests, please indicate, “None declared.”

Privacy Statement

The names and email addresses entered on this journal site will be used exclusively for the stated purposes of this journal. They will not be made available for any other purpose or to any other party.

For more information and online manuscript submission procedures, please visit the following URL: https://www.ajol.info/index.php/thrb

Manuscripts must be submitted online using the following URL: http://www.ajol.info/index.php/thrb/login

CONTACT US

3 Barack Obama Drive

P.O. Box 9653, 11101 Dar-es-Salaam

Tel: +255-22-2121400

Fax: +255-22-2121360

tjhr@nimr.or.tz, prince.mutalemwa@nimr.or.tz