| Post date: 2022/01/4 |
Author Guidelines
1) About the Journal
1) About the Journal
Evidence-Based Health Policy, Management & Economics (EBHPME) is a scientific journal dedicated to health policy, management, and economics. The journal aims to publish research findings and scientific evidence addressing issues and challenges within health systems.
This English-language journal, with electronic ISSN 2538-4716, was established in 2017 (1395) and initially published on a quarterly basis. Since the beginning of 2026, the journal has adopted a continuous publication model. The journal is published by Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences.
2) Aims and Scope
The journal covers a broad range of topics, including health policy and policy analysis, health system and healthcare institution management, health economics, health resource management, health technology assessment, performance evaluation, health governance, health financing, and other topics related to health management and economics.
The journal welcomes Original Articles, Review Articles, Policy Studies, and other scholarly manuscripts within its scope. Following an initial assessment by the Editor-in-Chief and the Editorial Board, manuscripts that meet the necessary requirements are sent for expert peer review. The journal operates a double-blind peer-review process.
Access type: Open Access
Article Processing Charge (APC): None
Publication frequency: Continuous
Journal status: The journal has scientific-research status and is indexed in ISC | DOAJ | Index Copernicus | Google Scholar | Civilica | Magiran.
Authors are required to carefully read the Author Guidelines before submitting a manuscript and to prepare their manuscripts in accordance with the requirements outlined herein. Manuscripts should be submitted through the journal's online submission system. Compliance with research and publication ethics, authorship requirements, disclosure of conflicts of interest and funding, research reporting standards, and all other requirements specified in these guidelines is mandatory for all submitted manuscripts.
3) Article Types
The journal considers the following types of manuscripts for publication:
3-1) Editorial
* Editorials represent the voice of EBHPME and are written by members of the journal's Editorial Board.
* Editorials should preferably not exceed 2,000 words.
* These articles provide timely, expert discussions on the major areas covered by the journal's scope.
* An unstructured abstract is required for this type of article.
3-2) Letter to the Editor
* Letters to the Editor may address critical comments on previously published articles, book reviews or critical assessments, analyses of topics related to reproductive medicine, or the explanation and further development of a complex idea or issue.
* These articles should include a title, abstract, keywords, main text, and references.
* The total word count should not exceed 1,000 words.
3-3) Original Article
* Original Articles should report methodologically rigorous primary research relevant to international health policy and management.
* The total word count should not exceed 4,000 words, excluding the structured abstract, tables, and references.
* Each manuscript should clearly specify the following: the research objective or hypothesis; the study design and methodology (including the study setting, patients or participants, inclusion and exclusion criteria, sampling, and data source); data analysis and interpretation; the main study findings; discussion of the results; study limitations; and conclusions (see the Guidelines for Preparing Research Articles).
* A structured abstract is required for all Original Articles (see the Guidelines for Preparing Abstracts).
3-4) Perspective
* Perspective articles present viewpoints or discussions, with a clear and well-defined message, on topics of interest in the field of health policy and management.
* An unstructured abstract is required for this type of article.
* The total word count should not exceed 2,500 words.
3-5) Short Communication
* Short Communications report findings of exceptional significance, current relevance, and immediate practical application in the field of health policy and management. This article type is intended for findings that, because of their high degree of novelty and impact, require rapid communication to the scientific community. Therefore, Short Communications should not merely report preliminary findings or preliminary research.
* These articles may take the form of an Original Article, Systematic Review, or an up-to-date report of an ongoing research project (Ongoing Research).
* The overall structure of these articles is similar to that of Original Research Articles. However, to ensure a concise and coherent presentation and to maintain a focus on key findings, an unstructured abstract is required. In addition, the Materials and Methods section must not contain any subheadings. Authors are required to present this section as a continuous and coherent narrative.
* The total length should be between 1,500 and 2,500 words, ensuring that all essential aspects of the research are adequately covered while maintaining conciseness.
3-6) Policy Brief
Policy Briefs are designed to communicate research findings and recommendations from research projects to non-specialist readers. Through Policy Briefs, authors may provide evidence-informed advice to policymakers based on lessons learned from their research. A Policy Brief should include the following:
* An unstructured abstract is required.
* The topic or problem should be clearly stated, along with a brief background.
* The current status of the issue should be described.
* Two or three options (solutions) should be presented, along with the advantages and disadvantages of each.
* The recommended options should be clearly identified, and the recommendations should be appropriately justified.
* The total word count should not exceed 3,000 words.
3-7) Commentary
* Commentaries are intended to discuss and challenge current and past health policies.
* The total word count should not exceed 3,000 words.
* This limit includes the unstructured abstract, a maximum of two figures or tables, and the reference list.
3-8) Correspondence
* Correspondence articles are primarily written in response to previously published Commentaries, particularly when the authors' work has been subject to criticism or discussion.
* These articles should not exceed 1,000 words. This limit includes a maximum of one table or figure, the reference list, and the main text.
* An abstract is not required for this type of article.
3-9) Review Article
Review Articles include:
* Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses: These articles should follow the same structure as Original Research Articles (see the Guidelines for the Structure of Research Articles).
* Narrative Reviews: These should include an abstract, keywords, introduction, research and review methods, article description (a description of the key findings of the reviewed articles), conclusion, acknowledgments, author contributions, funding/supporting organization, conflict of interest, and references.
* Review Articles should not exceed 4,000 words, excluding the title page, abstract, and references.
* The abstract of a Review Article should be structured and include the objective, information sources and methods used for study selection, findings, conclusion, and keywords, and should not exceed 300 words.
* Keywords should consist of 3 to 6 terms. Authors should use the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) to select appropriate keywords.
4) Manuscript Preparation
* The structure of Original Research Articles should be as follows: Title Page – Abstract – Keywords – Main Text (Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusion) – CRediT Authorship Contribution Statement – Acknowledgments – Conflict of Interests – Data Availability Statement – Ethical Considerations – Funding – Artificial Intelligence Use Disclosure Statement – References
* The Materials and Methods section should provide, as appropriate to the study design, details of the study design, study population and sample, inclusion and exclusion criteria, data collection procedures, instruments or measurement tools, study variables, analytical methods, and statistical software. For studies involving human participants, the relevant ethics approval and ethics approval code must be reported, along with a statement regarding informed consent, where applicable.
* Findings should be presented in the text, tables, and figures without unnecessary duplication. In the Discussion, the main findings should be compared with previous evidence, and their scientific and practical implications should be discussed. The Conclusion should be directly supported by the findings of the study.
- Original Research Articles should follow the structure outlined below:
4-1) Title Page
The Title Page should include the following information:
* Article Title: The title should be accurate, concise, and clearly reflect the main subject or objective of the study. It should be presented as a phrase rather than a complete sentence.
* Authors' Names: The full names (first, middle, and last names) of all authors should be provided. Authors' institutional affiliations should be indicated using superscript Arabic numerals (e.g., Mark Junior Smith¹). The corresponding author should be identified with an asterisk () (e.g., Mark Junior Smith). If a surname is potentially ambiguous (e.g., a compound or two-part surname), this should be clearly indicated.
* Authors' Affiliations: Each affiliation should include the department, research center, or institute; faculty; university; city; and country.
* ORCID iD: An ORCID iD is mandatory for all authors.
* Corresponding Author's Contact Information: The corresponding author's full postal address, email address, and telephone number should be provided.
* Running Title: A concise running title should be provided.
4-2) Abstract
* The abstract of an Original Research Article should be structured under the following headings: Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, and Conclusion.
* The abstract should be consistent with the main text and should briefly and clearly describe the study objective, setting, key findings, main results, and contribution of the study to existing knowledge.
* References should not be cited in the abstract.
* The abstract should not exceed 300 words. Since the abstract may be presented independently of the full article, it should be self-contained and understandable without reference to the main text.
4-3) Keywords
* Each article should include 3 to 5 keywords selected from the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) terminology. Medical Subject Headings (MeSH)
4-4) Main Text
4-4-1) Introduction
The Introduction should provide the background to the study and clearly state its objective. It should emphasize the importance of the research question and the rationale for conducting the study. The Introduction should not include an extensive review of the literature or present the study's data or results.
4-4-2) Material and Methods
The Materials and Methods section should clearly and concisely describe the procedures and methods used to conduct the study. Repetition of well-established and widely recognized standard methods should be avoided. The statistical software used for data analysis and sufficient details of the analytical methods should be reported. This section should be organized using appropriate subheadings.
The manuscript must have received approval from an appropriate ethics committee, and the ethics approval code should be stated at the end of the Materials and Methods section. If an ethics approval code is not available, the authors should provide a statement addressing all relevant ethical considerations in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki.
4-4-3) Results
The Results section should clearly present the study's key findings. Data should be analyzed using appropriate statistical methods.
4-4-3-1) Tables
* Tables should be provided in an editable format, and figures should be of sufficient quality for publication. Tables should be numbered consecutively according to the order in which they are first cited in the text and should include a concise title and sufficient explanatory information.
* Notes and explanatory information pertaining to a table should be placed below the table.
* The number of tables should be kept to a minimum, and tables should be included only when necessary. Data presented in tables should not be unnecessarily duplicated elsewhere in the manuscript.
* For P-values, the exact value should be reported. The symbol P should be used in tables.
* Unnecessary abbreviations should not be used in the title or abstract. The first occurrence of each abbreviation in the main text should be written out in full, followed by the abbreviation in parentheses.
4-4-3-2) Figures
* Each figure should have a title.
* The title should consist of a concise phrase providing a brief description of the figure and should not appear on the figure itself.
* Text within figures should be kept concise. However, all symbols and abbreviations used in a figure should be clearly explained.
* Figures should be included only when they enhance the quality or clarity of the manuscript.
4-4-4) Discusion
The Discussion should emphasize the novel and important aspects of the study and provide appropriate interpretation and explanation of the findings.
4-4-5) Conclusion
The Conclusion should present the authors' overall conclusions based on the findings of the study, as well as the study limitations and recommendations for future research.
4-5) Authorship and CRediT Authorship Contribution Statement
According to the standards of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), all authors should have made substantial contributions to the conceptual, intellectual, experimental, analytical, and writing aspects of the research. Authors should clearly specify their individual contributions using the CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy).
* The CRediT Authorship Contribution Statement should include the following:
- Study design
- Conducting the research
- Data analysis or statistical analysis
- Manuscript preparation and writing
- Approval of the final version by all authors. For a single-author article, the following statement should be included: “The sole author is responsible for all aspects of the article.”
* Any change in the authorship or the order of authors after submission requires a justified reason, the agreement of all authors, and approval by the Editor-in-Chief.
Example:
Manavdadi A, Rahmani B, and Hashemi P designed research; Manandadi A and Rahmani B conducted research; Khosravi P analyzed data; and Rahmati A, Manandadi A and Mohammadi B wrote the paper. Mavandadi A had primary responsibility for final content. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
4-6) Acknowledgment
* Authors may use this section to acknowledge technical, financial, or other forms of assistance or support received from colleagues, collaborators, or institutions.
* Where applicable, the following information should be provided:
* The reason for the acknowledgment and the role or contribution of the individuals being acknowledged.
* If the article is based on a thesis or dissertation, the thesis/dissertation code and the name of the university should be stated.
* If the article is based on a research project, the research project code and the name of the approving or supporting organization should be stated.
4-7) Conflict of Interests
Authors must disclose all sources of financial support and any actual or potential conflicts of interest, including, for example, receiving payments from or holding shares in an organization that may benefit or suffer financially from the publication of the article.
4-8) Data Availability Statement
Authors should clearly state the availability of the data used in the study in this section. If the data are available, the authors should specify where and how they can be accessed. If the data are available upon request, this should be clearly stated, together with any applicable conditions or procedures for access.
Example:
The data analyzed in this study are available at [repository/platform name] at [URL or other access information].
4-9) Ethical Considerations
Details of formal ethical approval should be provided in this section. If the authors were not required to obtain ethical approval, as may be the case in certain countries or for certain types of research, or if they were unable to obtain ethical approval due to specific limitations (e.g., in resource-limited settings), the reason should be clearly explained.
Ethical information should be presented in an anonymized form in the main manuscript. However, upon request, complete and identifiable information must be provided at the time of manuscript submission. Authors should also describe the procedures followed to obtain informed consent, where applicable.
4-10) Funding
If the study received financial support, the name of the funding institution or organization should be stated.
4-11) Artificial Intelligence Use Disclosure Statement
* The use of artificial intelligence in the preparation of a research work does not, in itself, raise any ethical concerns, provided that it is used appropriately and ethically and that the authors transparently disclose the nature of any interaction with AI and how it was used, including appropriate acknowledgment and citation of its use in the article. This includes the following:
- Authors who use artificial intelligence to prepare content must appropriately acknowledge and cite its use both in the text (in-text citation) and in the reference list (References) at the end of the article.
- Authors must specify which AI model was used, when it was used, and by whom.
- Authors must specify the type of artificial intelligence or machine-based tools used, including relevant technical details such as the full name of the tool, its version, and model.
- Authors must describe how the AI tool was used and which parts of the article content were generated or written using AI. For example, if AI was used to - assist with writing, this use should be described in the Acknowledgments section. If AI was used for data collection, data analysis, or figure generation, the authors should clearly describe its use in the Methods section.
* Artificial intelligence tools should not be listed as authors because:
* They have no legal standing and therefore cannot hold copyright in a scientific work.
* If a legal claim is brought against the work, they cannot approve or endorse the research work.
* Confidential information and participants' personal data must not be shared with AI tools.
* AI-based tools may only be used as assistive tools at different stages of the research process and must never replace human knowledge, expertise, or judgment. Therefore, all authors are responsible for any content generated or provided by AI in the research work, including its accuracy, originality, proper citation of sources, validity of references, and other related matters. In other words, the authors are responsible for ensuring the accuracy of the research work and its compliance with applicable ethical standards, including any sections written or generated using AI.
Example:
I acknowledge that I used Grammarly (https://www.grammarly.com/) to improve the organization and academic tone of my manuscript. The output was used to review the manuscript draft. I used the suggestions to reorganize some of the content and restructure other sections of the text to improve the overall organization and tone of the manuscript.
4-12) References
* References should be numbered consecutively according to the Vancouver style, in the order in which they are first cited in the text.
* Authors are responsible for ensuring the accuracy and completeness of all bibliographic information provided in the reference list.
* The inclusion of the DOI, PMID, or PMCID, where available, is recommended.
* To minimize errors, authors are encouraged to use reference management software, such as EndNote or Reference Manager.
* References should be numbered consecutively according to the Vancouver style, and in-text citations should be indicated by reference number only, rather than by the author’s name and publication year.
* References should not be cited in footnotes.
* Persian-language references, if cited, should be transliterated into Latin script and followed by [Persian] at the end of the reference.
Example:
Journal article (1-6 authors):
Surname Initial(s). Title of article. Journal title/or title abbreviation. Year; volume(issue): page(s). DOI –if available.
Becker ER, Morris SD, Mauldin L, Shaw JD, Talley Ws, Culler PD. The Changing Healthcare Market and How It Has Influenced the Treatment of Cardiovascular Disease- Part 1. American Journal of Managed Care. 1999; 5(1): 1119-24.
Journal article (more than 6 authors):
Surname Initial(s), et al. Title of article. Journal title/or title abbreviation. Year; volume (issue): page(s). DOI - if available
Fairhall N, Sherrington C, Lord SR, Kurrle SE, Langron C, Lockwood K, et al. Effect of a multifactorial, interdisciplinary intervention on risk factors for falls and fall rate in frail older people: a randomized controlled trial. Age and Ageing. 2014; 43(5): 616-22.
Important Notes:
* Those journals that have abbreviated titles in Medline, should mentioned the abbreviations in the sources. The list of abbreviated titles is available on https://www. ncbi.nlm. nih.gov/ nlmcatalog/ journals: Michaud J, Kates J. Global health diplomacy: Advancing foreign policy and global health interests. Glob Health Sci Pract. 2013; 1(1): 24-8. doi:10.9745/GHSP-D-12-00048.
Book:
Surname Initial(s). Book title. Edition - if available. Place of publication: Publisher; Year.
Reuter T. Sharing the Earth, Dividing the Land: Land and Territory in the Austronesian World. 2nd ed. Canberra: Australian National University Press; 2006. p. 85-93.
Book Section:
Surname author Initial(s). Chapter title. In: Surname editor Initial(s), editor(s). Book title. Place of publication: Publisher; Year. page(s).
Meltzer PS, Kallioniemi A, Trent JM. Chromosome alterations in human solid tumors. In: Vogelstein B, Kinzler KW, editor. 6th ed . The genetic basis of human cancer. New York: McGraw-Hill; 2002. p: 93-113.
Newspaper article – in print:
Surname Initial(s). Article title.Newspaper title.Date:page.
Wolf W. State’s mail-order drug plan launched. Minneapolis Star Tribune. May 14, 2004:1B.
Newspaper article – online:
Surname Initial(s). Article title. Newspaper title. Date. p. http://... . cited date.
Pollack A. FDA approves new cystic fibrosis drug. New York Times. January 31, 2012. p. 81. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/01/business/fda-approves-cystic-fibrosis-drug.html?ref=health. Last Access: February 1, 2012.
Websites:
Author. Title [Internet]. Available from: http://... .cited date.
Garfinkel PE, Lin E, Goering P. Should amenorrhea be necessary for the diagnosis of anorexia nervosa?. Available from URL: http://biomed.niss.ac.uk. Last Access: Mar 3, 2014.
Thesis:
Surname Initial(s). Title [type of publication]. Place: Publisher; Year.
Weisbaum LD. Human sexuality of children and adolescents: a comprehensive training guide for social work professionals [MSc thesis]. Long Beach (CA): California State University; 2005.
If there is the name of a school and department, its name should be added in the following order: Ghazavi SH. The Effect of Trust and Customer Satisfaction to Customer loyalty (case study: Sina Insurance of Yazd) [MSc Thesis]. Yazd: Yazd University, School of Accounting, Department of Management & Economic; 2011. [In Persian]
Conference proceedings:
Surname author Initial(s). Paper title. In: Surname editor Initial(s), editor(s). Conference title. Place of publication: Publisher; Year. page(s).
Bengtsson S, Solheim BG. Enforcement of data protection, privacy and security in medical informatics. Proceedings of the 7th World Congress on Medical Informatics; 1992 Sep 6-10; Geneva, Switzerland. Amsterdam: North-Holland; 1992: 1561-5.
Report:
The name of Organization. Title Published. place. year: page(s).
World Health Organization. World health Statisiics report on global health goals for 194 countries. WHO : Switzerland, Geneve. 2015: 5-8
5) General Submission Requirements
* The manuscript must be original and must not have been previously published or submitted simultaneously to another journal.
* Submission of a manuscript implies that all authors are aware of and agree to its submission and publication.
* Authors are responsible for the scientific accuracy, content, and legal aspects of the manuscript.
* Manuscripts should be submitted electronically in Microsoft Word format on A4-sized pages, using 11-point Times New Roman font, with 1.15 line spacing and margins of 3 cm at the top and bottom and 2 cm on the left and right.
* Figures should be provided in TIF, JPEG, or GIF format to ensure adequate image quality for publication.
* Footnotes and endnotes should not be used. All relevant information should be presented in the main text.
* At the time of submission, authors should include their ORCID iDs in the manuscript file after listing the authors' names and institutional affiliations.
* The following formatting conventions should be observed when reporting certain statistical terms and symbols: SPSS, t, F, and P. Authors should pay careful attention to the use of uppercase and lowercase letters.
* The percent sign (%) should be placed before the numerical value throughout the manuscript.
* A separate Title Page should be submitted independently from the main manuscript file prepared for peer review.
* Only standard abbreviations, acronyms, and symbols should be used. Abbreviations and acronyms should not be used in the title or abstract. The full term should be provided at its first occurrence in the main text, followed by the abbreviation in parentheses, unless the abbreviation represents a standard unit of measurement.
6) Research and Publication Ethics
* Ethics committee approval and the corresponding ethics approval code must be stated in the manuscript, and the relevant documentation must be provided.
* Informed consent must be obtained from participants where required, and the procedures used to obtain consent should be reported.
* All authors must disclose any financial and non-financial conflicts of interest.
* The source of financial support and, where applicable, the research project or thesis/dissertation code should be stated.
* Plagiarism, duplicate publication, fabrication or falsification of data, and manipulation of results or images are prohibited.
* The journal considers the principles of publication ethics and relevant COPE guidelines in developing and implementing its publication ethics policies.
7) Submission and Initial Screening
* The corresponding author must submit the main manuscript file, Title Page, tables and figures where applicable, author information, conflict-of-interest statement, funding information, ethical considerations, authorship contribution statement, ORCID iDs, and any other required documents through the journal's online submission system.
* Manuscripts undergo an initial screening to assess their suitability for the journal's scope, originality, scientific quality, structure, and compliance with relevant ethical requirements.
8) Peer Review
* Manuscripts that meet the journal's initial requirements are sent for expert peer review.
* The journal uses a double-blind peer-review process, and each manuscript is normally evaluated by at least two reviewers, at the discretion of the Editor-in-Chief.
* Reviewers are required to maintain confidentiality and impartiality and to disclose any conflicts of interest.
* Manuscripts that fully comply with the requirements specified in these guidelines and receive favorable recommendations from all reviewers will be considered for publication in the earliest possible issue.
* The Editor-in-Chief has final responsibility for decisions regarding acceptance, revision, or rejection of manuscripts.
* The average peer-review period is approximately 30 days.
* Reviewers must disclose any actual or potential conflicts of interest before accepting an invitation to review a manuscript.
9) Revision, Acceptance, and Proofreading
* When revisions are requested, authors must submit a revised manuscript together with a point-by-point response to the reviewers' comments within the specified timeframe.
* Following acceptance, a PDF proof of the final accepted manuscript will be sent to the corresponding author for careful review and final proofreading to identify and correct any possible errors. The corresponding author should review the proof promptly, indicate any necessary corrections, and return the corrected proof to the journal.
* At the final proof stage, major substantive changes to the manuscript are not permitted without prior approval from the Editor-in-Chief.
10) Corrections, Retractions, and Expressions of Concern
If a significant error or ethical concern is identified after publication, the journal may, as appropriate, publish a Correction/Erratum, Retraction, or Expression of Concern.
11) Complaints and Appeals
* Complaints and appeals concerning manuscript submission, peer review, editorial decisions, or publication should be submitted in writing to the journal office.
* Complaints and appeals will be handled confidentially and fairly and, where necessary, referred to the appropriate authority for further consideration.
12) Open Access and Publication Charges
* Articles are made available to readers in accordance with the journal's Open Access policy.
* The journal's policy regarding any submission, peer-review, or publication charges will be clearly and transparently stated on the journal's website.
13) Final Author Checklist
* Before submitting a manuscript, authors should ensure that:
* The manuscript is within the scope of the journal.
* The manuscript has not been previously published and is not under consideration by another journal.
* The correct article type has been selected.
* A separate Title Page has been prepared, and the peer-review version of the manuscript contains no identifying information.
* The abstract and keywords comply with the journal's guidelines.
* The appropriate reporting guideline for the study design has been followed.
* Ethical considerations and the ethics approval code, where applicable, have been provided.
* Conflicts of interest, funding information, and authorship contributions have been disclosed.
* References have been formatted according to the Vancouver style.
* Tables and figures have been prepared in accordance with the journal's guidelines.
* Any use of artificial intelligence (AI) has been appropriately disclosed, where applicable.
* All authors have approved the final version of the manuscript.
These guidelines may be updated periodically in accordance with the journal's editorial policies and evolving international standards of scholarly publishing.
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