Author Guide:
Dear Author: Prior to submission, please carefully read and follow the submission guidelines detailed below. Manuscripts that do not conform to the submission guidelines may be returned without review.
Submission:
The main emphasis of Iranian Journal of Health Psychology is original research in health psychology. Systematic reviews (including meta-analyses) and narrative reviews are also considered for publication. Submissions are welcomed from authors in psychology and other health-related disciplines.
Information about Submissions:
The page limit for research manuscripts, reviews, and meta-analyses is 7-10 pages. The page limit is inclusive of all parts of the manuscript, including the cover page, abstract, text, references, tables, and figures.
Authors may request consideration of longer papers, in advance of submission, when there is clear justification for additional length (e.g., the paper reports on two or more studies or has an unusual or complex methodology.
Brief reports are acceptable for innovative work that may be premature for publication as a full research report because of small sample size, novel methodologies, etc. Brief reports should be designated as such and should not exceed a total of 7-10 pages, inclusive of all parts of the manuscript, including the cover page, abstract, text, references, tables, and figures.
The manuscript should be typed using Word format and adhere to the APA style. It should be typed double-spaced, using font 12 of Times New Roman with a margin of at least 1 inch on all sides. The page number should appear in centre position at the bottom of the page.
On the submission portal you will be asked to provide contact information for three individuals who are qualified to serve as unbiased reviewers for your paper. These people must have published peer reviewed work in a relevant field. They must be without any real or perceived conflict of interest with you and your co-authors. They cannot be at the same institution as any author, cannot be a co-author on any recent publications, and must not be a former or current trainee, advisor or mentor, etc.
Submissions that exceed the page limits will be returned to the author for shortening prior to the initiation of peer review.
Submission Letter:
The cover letter should indicate that the authors have read and followed the Asian Journal of Health Psychology Instructions for Authors. It should also include a statement indicating that the paper has been seen and approved by all authors. The cover letter should describe how the paper advances research in health psychology, referring to the journal mission to assure that the submission fits with the scope of papers published in Health Psychology.
The full mailing address, telephone, fax, and email address for the corresponding author should be included in the cover letter and title page, along with the names and affiliations of all co-author/s.
The cover letter must confirm that the manuscript has not been published, is not currently submitted elsewhere, and that it does not contain data that is currently submitted or published elsewhere.
When a manuscript contains data that is part of a larger study, authors should describe the larger study and provide references for other study papers. Authors must be prepared to provide copies of related manuscripts when requested as part of the editorial review process. Authors should clarify the relationship between their paper, including detailed specification of the overlap in participants, measures, and analysis, and others from the study. The value-added scientific contribution of their study must be clearly stated in the cover letter.
Authors of brief reports should indicate in the cover letter that the full report is not under consideration for publication elsewhere and similarly address potential overlap with other papers.
Manuscripts:
The manuscript title should be accurate, fully explanatory, and no longer than 12 words, of course, without additional letters. The title should reflect the content and population studied, and it should not be in the form of an assertion or conclusion. If the paper reports a randomized clinical trial, this should be indicated in the title. The title of brief reports should start with the words “Brief Report”. The title page should include the names of all authors and their affiliations at the time the research was done.
All research manuscripts must include a structured abstract containing a maximum of 250 words with the following sections:
• Objective (brief statement of the purpose of the study);
• Methods (summary of the participants, design, measures, procedure);
• Results (primary findings); and
• Conclusions (specific statement of the implications of the data).
Supply up to five keywords or brief phrases after the abstract. We recommend that you choose medical subject headings (MeSH) and/or psychological index terms for your keywords. The National Library of Medicine offers a free, searchable MeSH database for PubMed.
The Introduction should not exceed 2-3 pages in length. The paper should be referenced appropriately but excessive citations should be avoided.
All research involving human participants must describe oversight of the research process by the relevant Institutional Review Boards and should describe consent and assent procedures briefly in the Methods section.
All statistical tests should include an effect size with confidence intervals whenever possible.
First person language («I», «we») should be avoided. Terminology should be sensitive to the individual who has a disease or disability. The journal endorses the concept of «people first, not their disability». Terminology should reflect the «person with a disability» (e.g., children with diabetes, persons with HIV infection, families of people with cancer) rather than the condition as an adjective (e.g., diabetic children, HIV patients, cancer families.
It is important to highlight the significance and novel contribution of original work. Replications and extensions of previous studies are welcome, but the rationale and discussion should give due weight to the main purpose of the study (i.e., to confirm, disconfirm, or extend previous research), and it should not give excessive weight to minor innovations or superficially novel features.
Manuscript Preparation:
Prepare manuscripts according to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (6th edition). Other formatting instructions, as well as instructions on preparing tables, figures, references, metrics, and abstracts, appear in the Manual. Additional guidance on APA Style is available on the APA Style website.
Review APA’s Checklist for Manuscript Submission before submitting your article. Manuscripts may be copyedited for bias-free language (see Chapter 3 of the Publication Manual).
Below are additional instructions regarding the preparation of display equations, computer code, and tables.
Tables
Use Word’s Insert Table function when you create tables (1 to 2 tables allowed). Using spaces or tabs in your table will create problems when the table is typeset and may result in errors.
Figures
Graphics files are welcome if supplied as Tiff or EPS files. Multi panel figures (i.e., figures with parts labeled a, b, c, d, etc.) should be assembled into one file.
The minimum line weight for line art is 0.5 point for optimal printing.
For more information about acceptable resolutions, fonts, sizing, and other figure issues, please see the general guidelines.
When possible, please place symbol legends below the figure instead of to the side.
References:
APA Style
References that are used should be set in alphabetical order by last name in accordance with the APA guide at the end of the paper as follows:
List references in alphabetical order. Each listed reference should be cited in text, and each text citation should be listed in the References section.
1. To set the paper format, look at the sample of the articles published by the Quarterly in recent issues and format it accordingly.
Book (author): Surname, author name or authors (year of publication). Title. Print time, place of publication, publisher name.
2. Book (translated): Surname, author name and authors (year of publication in Latin). Title. Translator's name and surname (year of publication), print time, place of publication, publisher's name.
3. Article: Surname, author name and authors (year of publication). Title. Name of the journal, volume, issue, page.
4. Research report or thesis: Surname, author's name or authors (year of publication). Title (master's dissertation or doctor's thesis or research report). Name of organization or university.
5. Seminar or conference: Surname, author's name or authors (year of publication). Title. Name of seminar or conference, venue, page.
6. In the text of the paper, where applicable, the author's last name and year of publication are written in parentheses, and in the case of Latin terms and Latin names, the external equivalent of this is indicated in the footnote.
Examples of basic reference formats:
Journal Article: Hughes, G., Desantis, A., & Waszak, F. (2013). Mechanisms of intentional binding and sensory attenuation: The role of temporal prediction, temporal control, identity prediction, and motor prediction. Psychological Bulletin, 139, 133–151. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0028566
Authored Book: Rogers, T. T., & McClelland, J. L. (2004). Semantic cognition: A parallel distributed processing approach. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Chapter in an Edited Book: Gill, M. J., & Sypher, B. D. (2009). Workplace incivility and organizational trust. In P. Lutgen-Sandvik & B. D. Sypher (Eds.), Destructive organizational communication: Processes, consequences, and constructive ways of organizing (pp. 53–73). New York, NY: Taylor & Francis.