Evidence Based Health Policy,

MANUSCRIPT PREPARATION

Manuscript preparation based on the following guidelines substantially reduces the time taken in editorial processing and results in rapid decision making. The manuscript should be submitted electronically as a single word file embedding all the figures and tables in the following format. The manuscripts must be completely double spaced. All lines should be numbered continuously (not per page) beginning with the abstract and ending before the references, tables, and figures. Pages should be numbered consecutively in the upper right-hand corner of each page, beginning with the title page.  Manuscript submissions that do not follow this format correctly may be returned to authors. Manuscripts should be submitted online at http://JEBHPME.ssu.ac.ir/

Types of Articles
The submitted studies should be presented in one of the following types:
Editorial
Editorials are the message of the EBHPME and are written in-house by the journal's Editorial Board members. Editorials are preferably no more than 2000 words. They provide state of the art discussions on the EBHPME main scopes. An unstructured abstract is required for these types of articles.
Original Article
These articles must be of primary research, methodologically accurate, and relevant to international health policy and management. They should contain no more than 8000 words excluding structured abstract, tables, and references. Each manuscript should clearly state an objective or hypothesis; the study design and methodology (including study setting, patients or participants, inclusion and exclusion criteria, sampling, and data source); data analysis and interpretations; main results of the study, discussions about the results; study limitations; and conclusion. For all original articles, a structured abstract is required (see instructions for preparing Abstracts).
Perspective
These articles present views or discussions (with a clear message) concerning an issue of health policy and management interest. An unstructured abstract is required.
Review Article
These articles consist of systematic reviews, meta-analyses, meta-syntheses, health system reviews, and narrative articles. Inclusion and exclusion criteria for studies should be described in a flow diagram. The specific type of study or analysis, intervention, population, exposure, outcomes, or tests should be described for each data source or article. Authors should clearly cover the following topics in the method section: search strategy and selection criteria, data extraction, quality assessment, and data analysis. A structured abstract is required.
Letter to Editor
Letter to Editors should be about criticism of previous articles, criticism or review over books, analysis of a related topic with reproductive medicine, expansion about an idea or a complicated problem. These articles need no structure.
Short Communication
These types of articles are not intended to publish the preliminary results, but deal with publication of the results that are of exceptional interest and are particularly topical and relevant. An unstructured abstract is required for these types of articles.
Policy Brief
Our policy briefs are intended to represent the findings and recommendations of the research project to non-specialized readers. One may write policy briefs to advice policies based on the lessons learned from his/her research. Components of a policy brief are outlined in below:

• An unstructured abstract is required.
• The issue/problem and a short background of the problem  should be stated.
• The current situation of the topic should be described.
• Two or three options should be included regarding the pros and cons of each option.
• The recommended options should be identified and the recommendations should be justified.

Debate
These articles are intended to discuss and challenge the current and past health policies. They should not exceed 3000 words including an unstructured abstract, up to 2 figures or tables and references.
Commentary
Readers’ views and comments are of high importance in the EBHPME’s editorial policies. EBHPME welcomes comments on its published articles to provide a forum for varying perspectives. These articles are mainly invited from eminent scholars in the field. 
Correspondence
These articles are mainly written in response to the published commentaries by authors whose articles have been subject to commentaries. These types of articles should not exceed 1000 words including maximum 1 table or figure, references and the main text. No abstract is required for these articles.
Guidelines for preparation of manuscript
Text Style Guide
The manuscript must be submitted as a Word document; PDF is not accepted. Use A4 size. Text should be left-justified. Manuscript must be typed with "Times New Roman" font, size 14 for the title, 13 for subtitles, and 12 for the text. Use 1.5 line spacing. Use line and page number.
Language (usage and editing services)
All publications in the EBHPME are in English. Authors whose first language is not English should make sure their manuscript is written in idiomatic English before submission. Please write your text in good English (American or British usage is accepted, but not a mixture of these). No language and copy-editing services are provided by the EBHPME; hence, authors who feel their manuscript may require editing to eliminate possible grammatical or spelling errors are encouraged to obtain such services prior to submission. Authors are responsible for all costs associated with such services.
It is recommended that articles be prepared based on the following format:
Title page:
The title page must contain the following information:

• Title of the article.
• Authors’ names: Full names (First, Middle and Last) should be provided and specified with superscript number(s) for the affiliation(s) [e.g., Mark Junior Smiths¹]. The name of the corresponding author(s) should be specified with an asterisk after name (e.g., Mark Junior Smiths*). In the case that the family name is ambiguous (e.g., a double name), please indicate this clearly.
• Authors’ Affiliations (Department / Research Center/Institution,  Name of School, University, City, and Country),
• Postal address, E-mail, and Telephone number of the corresponding author should be included.
• A running title 

Abstract: Include a structured abstract of no more than 350 words. Given that an abstract is often presented separately from the article, it must be able to stand alone. It should state briefly and clearly the purpose and setting of the research, the principal findings, major conclusions, and the article's contribution to knowledge. Abstracts should be prepared in EBHPME style including Background, Methods, Results, and Conclusion.
Introduction: Introduction should provide a background and specify the research objective of the study or observation. This section must emphasize the purpose and the rationale for the study. It should neither review the subject extensively nor have data or conclusions of the study.
Materials and Methods: Materials and methods must indicate clearly the detailed steps taken to acquire the information, but repeating the details of standard techniques is best avoided. The software used for statistical analysis and description of the actual method should be mentioned. This section should have some subtitles.
*Article must have the approval of Ethics Committee and ethics code number should be mentioned at the end of the Methodology. In the case of not having the code of ethics, authors should mention all ethical issues based on the Helsinki Declaration.
Results: Authors should describe their important observations in this section. The data should be analyzed statistically.   Discussion: Discussion should emphasize the new and important aspects of the study. Possible explanations for the findings should be mentioned.
Conclusion: In this section, overall conclusion of the author(s) from the research, limitations of the work, and implications of the finding for future research should be noted.
Acknowledgements
After the “Conclusion” section, authors can acknowledge the technical help/financial grant of their colleague/institutes etc.
In this section, individuals or organizations who cooperated in the study, except the authors, can be appreciated. This includes all the people who helped the author/s materially or spiritually (technical, writing, etc.). It is necessary to mention the reason of appreciation and individuals' roles briefly if possible.
Moreover, it should be noted if the article is a research thesis or research project. If it is the result of a thesis, mentioning the name of the university is vital and if it is drived from a research project, the research code number and the name of organization that approved it must be mentioned. Generally, in the case of financial support, it is necessary to mention the name of the research institute or organization that supported it.
The relevant project or thesis Code should be mentioned in this part.
Conflict of interests
Authors must acknowledge and declare any sources of funding and potential conflicts of interest, such as receiving funds or fees by, or holding stocks and shares in, an organization that may profit or lose through publication of your paper.
Authors' contributions
Based on the recommendations by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors/ICMJE(http://www.icmje.org/) about conducting, reporting, editing, and publishing the scholarly studies in medical journals, all authors should have made significant conceptual, intellectual, experimental, and analytical contributions to the research. They also should have participated in writing and revising the manuscript.
All authors' contribution statements must include:

• Designing research 
• Conducting research 
• Analyzing data or performed statistical analysis.
• Writing the manuscript 
• All authors should have read and approved the final manuscript. For single-authored research papers and reviews, please state: The sole author is responsible for all parts of the manuscript.

For 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.
References

• Authors are responsible for the accuracy of the cited references, which should be checked before the manuscript is submitted.
• In order to minimize the errors in writing sources, it is better to apply bibliographic information management software, such as Endnote and Reference Manager.
• References should be numbered consecutively (Vancouver style) and cited in the manuscript text by number (not author and date). References should not be formatted as footnotes.

• 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:

* In the case of having DOI, PMID, or PMCID numbers, they should be listed at the end of the sources.
* 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.
*The phrase [In Persian] should be added after each Persian source.

Copyright

Journal of Evidence Based Health Policy, Management, and Economics is free of charge. This Journal is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which allows users to read, copy, distribute, and make derivative works for noncommercial purposes from the material, as long as the author of the original work is cited properly. The author/s should not copy any materials without the prior written permission from the owner/s. The authors should sign the copyright agreement, provided on the journal's website and attach it along with the submitted manuscript. If authors submit any material to which they do not own copyright, they will need to secure permission to use the copyrighted materials.

*agreement form
 
Submission Process
Authors should ensure that papers conform to the scientific and style instructions given above. In order to accelerate the publication process, the Journal requires all manuscripts to be submitted online.
EBHPME offers a completely digital submission and production process. At the time of submission of a manuscript, it is advised to prepare production-quality files to speed up the process. Authors should follow the guidelines given above, unless the submission will be returned to the corresponding author for additional revision, which may decelerate the manuscript evaluation process and hence delay publication. Thus, careful attention is fully appreciated by the editorial members of the journal.
Authors are required to register to create an account for submission at the online submission site. Authors can also follow on-screen instructions and the system will provide the essential guidelines through the submission process.

Peer review process
Each submitted manuscript is first assessed by the editor-in-chief. The prime purpose is to decide about fast rejection or the decision to send the manuscript for external review. Papers which their topics are not relevant to the journal aim and scope or they do not meet basic journal standards and requirements will be rejected at this stage to avoid delays to authors who may wish to seek publication elsewhere. Occasionally a paper will be returned to the author with requests for revisions in order to assist the editors in deciding whether or not send it for review. Authors can expect a decision from this stage of the review process within 1–2 weeks of submission.  During submission, you will be asked if you wish to suggest the names and email addresses of the potential reviewers. Note that the editor-in-chief retains the sole right to invite the suggested reviewers.
All such papers will undergo a double blind peer review by two or more reviewers, under supervision of the editor-in-chief. Every reasonable step is taken to ensure author identity is concealed during the review process, but it is up to authors to ensure that their details of prior publications etc. do not reveal their identity.
We aim to complete the review process within 3-4 weeks of the decision to review, although occasionally delays do happen. The editor-in-chief reserves the right to the final decision regarding acceptance.
A reviewer should immediately decline to review the submitted article if he/she feels that the article is technically unqualified or if the timely review cannot be done by him/her or if the article has a conflict of interest.
All submissions will be considered confidential, editorial approval might be given for any advice received from an outsider.
No reviewer should pass on the article submitted to him/her for review to another reviewer in his own concern, it should be declined immediately.
Reviewers being the base of the whole quality process should ensure that the articles published should be of high quality and original work. He/she may inform the editor if he/she finds the submitted article is under consideration in any other publication to his/her knowledge.
Reviewers must not be allowed to make copies of the manuscript for their files and must be prohibited from sharing it with others, except with the editor’s permission. Reviewers should return or destroy copies of manuscripts after submitting reviews. Editors should not keep copies of rejected manuscripts. The reviewer’s comments should not be published or otherwise publicized without the permission of the reviewer, author, and editor.
The final decision pertaining to each manuscript is determined by editor-in-chief and then the decision will be immediately sent to the corresponding author within a maximum of two months. Editor-in-chief can reject the manuscript at any time before publication even after acceptance if concerns arise about the integrity of the work. In the peer review process, research protocols and plans for statistical analysis will be reviewed. Editorials and letters to editor will not enter the peer-review process.
Revision
 Manuscripts may be returned to the corresponding author for modifying the scientific content and/or for language corrections. The revised manuscript and a point-by-point response to the reviewers’ comments must be submitted to the editor accompanied by a copy of the original version. The editor’s suggestions about resubmission do not necessarily imply that a revised version will be accepted. If a manuscript that is returned to the authors for modification is not resubmitted within four weeks, it will be regarded as being withdrawn and any revised version received subsequently will be treated as a new manuscript and the date of receipt will be altered accordingly. Authors who resubmit the previously rejected manuscript must provide the original manuscript and a detailed letter explaining how the manuscript was modified.
Proofs
The corresponding author will receive page proofs (as PDF files) by email (EBHP.SSUgmail.com or EBHPJssu.ac.ir). These should be checked immediately and corrections as well as answers to any queriesshould be returned to the journal as an annotated PDF via email within 3-5 working days (further details are supplied with the proof). It is the author's responsibility to check the proofs thoroughly.
We will do everything possible to get your article published quickly and accurately. Therefore, it is important to ensure that all your corrections are sent back to us in one communication. Please note that rephrasing sentences, additions, or omissions are not allowed at the proof stage.
Important Note: Authors should approve the PDF Proof and provide us with the corrections in due time. Not meeting the deadline and a long delay to respond can lead to withdrawal of the manuscript at this stage.
Corrections or erratum: Evidence Based Health policy, Management & Economics will publish corrections if important errors are found. The corrections should be distinguishable from retractions and statements of concern relating to the misconduct. If errors are fundamental enough to make the work invalid, the journal preserves the right to retract the published paper. This journal will publish correction if the author/contributor list is incorrect including. That is if a deserving author was omitted or somebody who did not meet authorship criteria was included.
Retraction and expression of concern: Retraction will be published by Evidence Based Health policy, Management & Economics, if errors affect the interpretation of the results or it is provided to have serious ethical misconduct, including duplication, redundant publication (publishing the data elsewhere without cross-referencing, permission or justification), disagreement of all authors for publication, plagiarism, miscalculation, and experimental error. Expression of concern will be published by Evidence Based Health policy, Management & Economics if editors receive inconclusive evidences about the publication misconduct by the authors and unreliability of the findings. However, we will investigate the issue completely but a judgment will not be available for a considerable time.
Withdrawal of articles: If legal infringements, defamation, and inaccurate data occurr, especially those that may pose a serious health risk, the Evidence Based Health policy, Management & Economics has the right to remove or withdraw the article. In this circumstance, a retraction statement will be published by this journal and an explanation will be given about the circumstances of removal or withdrawal. EBHPME does not charge readers and their institution for accessing the papers. Full text download of all new and archived papers is free of charge. Registration on EBHPME website is free of charge for authors and reviewers.
Advertising policy  
The journal does not carry advertising, neither in print nor online.