Submissions

Author Guidelines

Attention! The authors should submit papers for the journal Polish Journal of Public Health via the internet platform ( https://www.editorialsystem.com/pjph/ )

Polish Journal of Public Health is oriented towards multi-disciplinary public health researchers and practitioners in the fields of epidemiology and diseases of civilization, health promotion and disease prevention, healthcare organization, economy and health policy, psychosocial and ethical aspects of public health and medical technology, among others.

1. "Polish Journal of Public Health" is an open access journal, meaning it offers free and immediate access to published content in order to support universal exchange of knowledge. Free access means any one user is allowed to "read, download, copy, share, print, search, or link to full text of those articles, search them for indexing purposes, use it as data input for software, or use in any other purpose within the boundaries of the law without financial, legal, or technical restrictions other than those neccesarily resulting from internet access. The only copyright limitations in regards to copying and sharing content are ensuring the authors have complete control over integruity of their work and the right to proper credit and referencing their work (Budapest Open Access Initiative, https://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read).
2. The journal publishes original articles, review articles, and letters to the editor. Original articles and review articles are peer-reviewed.
3. Only works in English are accepted for publication.
4. In order to submit manuscripts, please use the editor panel at https://czasopisma.umlub.pl/pjph. Navigate to article submission tab and follow the instructions. Please note that online submission is the only valid method to send manuscripts.
5. Editorial board requires each author to provide their ORCID ID when submitting a manuscript. For more information about ORCID see https://orcid.org/about/what-is-orcid/mission

Structure And Content Of Article

Original articles need to be structured as follows: introduction, aim of the study, methods and materials, results, discussion, conclusions, references. Original article abstracts need to be between 1400 and 1800 characters long (including spaces) and they need to be structured into the following sections: introduction and aim, methods and materials, results, conclusions. Original articles should not exceed the maximum length of 20 000 characters (including spaces) - this limit does not include abstract and references (up to 30 references). There should be a maximum of 8 tables and images.

Review articles need to be structured as follows: introduction and aim (detailed description of publication choice criteria, including their pros and cons, as well as publication search method, i.e. online databases, journal search), current knowledge, summary, references. Review article abstracts need to be between 1400 and 1800 characters long (including spaces) and they need to be structured into the following sections: introduction and aim, methods of review, brief summary of current knowledge, summary. Review articles should not exceed the maximum length of 20 000 characters (including spaces) - this limit does not include abstract and references (up to 30 references). It is recommended to present the most vital information in tables and images and avoid repeating it in the article text. There should be a maximum of 8 tables and images.

Both original and review articles should include between 2 and 6 keywords chosen according to MeSH terms (Medical Subject Headings, English version).

Code Of Ethics

Human and animal testing have to be performed in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki principles. Human testing has to be approved by the National Bioethics Committee and its participants have to provide informed consent to the test. Patient data must be treated as confidential and any images must be anonymized. Notification about the Bioethics Committee aprroval and the patients' informed consent to participate in the test should be incorporated into the methods and materials section of original articles describing non-standard diagnosis or treatment methods.

References

Authors are required to provide a reference list. Footnotes in the text should be written in brackets in  order of appearance in the text. The reference list has to follow the guidelines in the “Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals" established by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (https://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/uniform_requirements.html).

The reference list should be submitted through the editor panel. Authors are recommended to focus on more recent articles for their references. At least 75% of the list should reference works published no earlier than 8 years prior to the date of manuscript submission.

Each reference should contain: last names and initials of the first names of the authors, title of article, abbreviated journal title, year of publication, volume, the first and the last page number. If there are more than three authors, please list the three names and add "et al." afterwards. Journal abbreviations should be taken from NLM Catalog (http://ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nlmcatalog) where possible, otherwise should follow the publisher's naming convention. If a referenced article has an individual DOI (Digital Object Identifier),  it needs to be linked at the end of its reference note. Online sources should include last access date written in brackets after the URL (Uniform Resource Locator).

It is required to use proper punctuation according to reference examples listed below:

Journal article

Pawłowski J, Pawłowska K M , Grochulska A. Osteopathy treatment of temporomandibular joint dysfunction in young teens. J Pre Clin Clin Res. 2024;18(4):299-302. https://doi.org/10.26444/jpccr/198031.

Book

Ringsven MK, Bond D. Gerontology and leadership skills for nurses. 2nd ed. Albany (NY) Publishers, 1996.

Book chapter

Karczewicz E, Sikora A. Wieloaspektowa analiza absencji chorobowej. In: Wojtyniak B, Goryński P. Sytuacja zdrowotna ludności Polski i jej uwarunkowania , Warszawa; 2022. p. 415-440.

Online resource

Yee WS, Lin LP. Anxiety and depressive symptoms among communities in the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia: A rural exploration. MJP Online Early http://www.mjpsychiatry.org/index.php/mjp/article/view/143 (last accessed: 2011.11.14).

Text And Image Formatting

Text should be submitted in a text file without target formatting. It is preferable to keep standard formatting - type size 12, paragraph spacing 1.5, paragraphs separated by one extra empty line; do not use a different font type for titles, do not hyphenate words, do not use multiple spaces to adjust lines, do not use space in front of punctuation marks, do not use non-breaking space).

Images, graphics, pictures, and charts can be submitted in separate files. Use placeholders or instruction within the text as to where each image should be placed. Regarding charts, please attach numeric data required to create charts used in the article. Please contact journals@umlub.edu.pl with any related questions.

Article Review

All submitted manuscripts are examined using Crossref Similarity Check (iThenticate). Only the manuscripts with similarity score lower than 15% and without any plagiarized content are accepted for further review process after detailed examination.

1. Editor-in-chief of PJPH makes a preliminary assessment whether the submitted manuscript is thematically relevant to PJPH area of interest, and the manuscript may be rejected if there is no such relevancy.
2. Editor-in-chief may cede the overseeing of editorial process of individual manuscripts to a Section Editor.
3. Once a manuscript is approved for further proceedings, it is sent to a minimum of two reviewers.
4. During the submission process, the author is asked to suggest two reviewers and submit their contact information (full name and e-mail address). The editorial board reserves the right to agree or to refuse suggested reviewers. A reviewer cannot share department affiliation with the author.
5. Mansucripts are reviewed anonymously. After reviews are completed, they are sent to the author(s) without revealing the reviewers' identities.
6. Names of reviewers for particular articles and issues remain confidential. Once per year, the journal publishes full list of associated reviewers.
7. A review is a text document with a conclusive statement of accepting or rejecting the manuscript for publication.
8. Based on reviews, the Editor-in-chief of PJPH makes the final decision on publishing the manuscript in PJPH.
9. If the reviews conclude the manuscript requires revisions and improvements, the Editor-in-chief may decide to resubmit the manuscript for review after the necessary modifications are made by the author(s).
10. A manuscript ultimately accepted by the Editor-in-chief of PJPH undergoes registration process and is assigned a unique DOI after the author(s) pay the publication fee.
11. An article with a unique DOI is published on the PHPJ website and is indexed in the current issue and volume.
12. The author(s) are notified both by the publication system and e-mail whether the manuscript was accepted or rejected.

Information About "Ghostwriting" And "Guest Authorship"

1. Editorial Board requires authors to acknowledge contributions of each co-author to the article by listing their names, affiliations, and contributed content, i.e. who in particular is responsible for the main idea, hypothesis, method, protocol etc. used in the article. Ultimately, the responsiblity for making such acknowledgement is on the person who is submitting a manuscript.
2. Editorial Board declares that "ghostwriting" (an author making a significant contribution to a publication without acknowleding their role as a co-author or otherwise mentioning their contribution in the acknowledgements section of the article) and "guest authorship" (an author making little to no contribution to the article while being acknowledged as a co-author) are both examples of unethical conduct and if revealed, such occurences will be publicized including notifying relevant institutions (research institutes, science associations, etc.)
3. Editorial Board requests the authors to disclose sources of funding research, contribution of science and research institutions, associations, and other parties in a financial disclosure statement.
4. Editorial Board records any instances of unethical conduct, especially violations of ethical standards in science and research.

Disclaimers

1. Manuscripts that do not fit thematic profile of the journal or are not compliant with editorial requirements regarding text and reference structure will not be accepted.
2. Editorial board reserves the right to correct style errors, naming conventions, as well as the right to make necessary cuts, corrections, and amendments to reference lists without notice.
3. Editorial board does not verify quotes and translations, therefore the accuracy of any and all quotes and translations is within author(s) responsibility.
4. Manuscripts might be withdrawn by the author(s) only before the preliminary assessment of their relevance to the journal's area of interest.

Declarations

Submitting a manuscript to Polish Journal of Public Health means agreement with the following statements:

• there is no conflict of interest (the author(s) have no financial or personal commitments compromising their integrity with regards to the published article)
• the article has not been previously published
• the article will be shared on a CC-BY-NC-ND license

Publication Fees

Once approved by the PJPH Editor-in-chief, a manuscript undergoes registration process once the publication fee of 369,00 PLN brutto (300,00 PLN with VAT) or 90 Euro (incl. VAT) is paid to the bank account listed at the PJPH website through a bank transfer under the author's (or, in case of multiple authors, the corresponding author's) full name, with title of the submitted manuscript and the number assigned to the manuscript. The publication fee is paid once it is registered on the bank account listed at the Polish Journal of Public Health website.

Bank transfer details:

Uniwersytet Medyczny w Lublinie
Al. Racławickie 1, 20-059 Lublin

• in PLN: 94 1020 3147 0000 8302 0084 6188
  bank PKOBP Oddział 1 w Lublinie

or

• in EURO: PL50 1020 3147 0000 8202 0084 6253
  PKO BP S.A. O/Lublin,
  ul. Watykańska 7, 20-538 Lublin
  SWIFT: BPKOPLPW

 

Accepted For Publication

Author correction: corresponding author receives a PDF version of a pre-published article where author's correction can be suggested using the comment function. In order to do that, Adobe Reader 10 or higher is neccessary and can be donwnloaded for free at get.adobe.com/reader.

Alternatively, instead of using comments within the file, the author can create a list of corrections according to the template: line 27,is currently: ........., should be: ............, and send it by e-mail.

Corrections apply to cohesion, accuracy, and adjustment of text, charts, and images. Significant changes in articles accepted for publication are only possible with the consent of the Editorial Board. Corrections should be sent back within 48 hours. All corrections and comments should be sent to the Publisher in a single file, otherwise some of them might not be registered. The author(s) are solely responsible for author corrections.

Editorial board reserves the right to make necessary changes and adjustments as a part of editorial process.

 

The procedure for reviewing articles in Polish Journal of Public Heath takes into account the recommendations of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education

1. All manuscripts sent to the editor are evaluated formally and then are sent for peer review.
2. Editorial staff may reject manuscripts that do not conform to the profile of the journal.
3. For the evaluation of each publication there are designated at least two independent reviewers  outside the entity affiliated by the author/authors of the article.
4. In the case of texts written in a foreign language, at least one of the reviewers is affiliated with a foreign institution other than the nationality of author of the manuscript.
5. The recommended solution is a model in which the author (s) and the  reviewers do not know their identity (i.e. "double-blind review process").
6. The peer review of the manuscript is made in writing and gives an unequivocal positive or negative recommendation; in exceptional cases, the manuscript is reassessed after corrections have been made  taking into account the recommendations of the reviewers.
7. Obtaining two positive peer reviews is the prerequisite for the publication of the manuscript.
8. The author of the manuscript is informed about the outcome of the peer review.
9. The list of all reviewers is published in the journal once a year.

 

Medical University of Lublin journals - guidelines for authors regarding use of AI tools

1. Author's responsibility: Content creation tools based on AI such as ChatGPT, Copilot, and other language models, may be used to support individual work on an article, but under no circumstances can they substitute author's personal input. Authors are fully responsible for the contents fo the article, including legitimacy of any information supplied by the AI tools and proper references to credible sources used to support claims in the article. The author(s) are solely responsible for any potential copyright violations resulting from the use of an AI tool.
2. Transparency of use: If an AI tool was employed at any stage and any capacity during the writing process, its use must be described in a transparent and precise manner. It is recommended to fully detail the extent of support the AI tool has provided in the writing process in order to ensure full transparency for readers and editors. The description should list the AI tools and prompts used to generate content.
3. Breadth of use: AI-based tools may be used to help at different stages of the writing process such as correction, contnent suggestion, or bibliography, but cannot function as independent authors. AI tools are not considered a legal person, nor can they be a copyright owner, therefore it is not possible to list these tools as co-authors.
4. Criteria of use: Using AI tools exclusively to correct spelling or grammar mistakes and in a broader context of text editing does not require a specific disclosure in the article. However, more advanced usage of AI tools necessitates following proper disclosure as delineated in previous paragraphs.
5. Editorial decision: Each case of AI tools use will be individually evaluated by the editorial board of the selected journal. Final decision on whether the specific use and/or specific AI tool is acceptable belongs to the editorial board and is determined by the character of each individual article and the editorial policy of the selected journal.