Submissions

Author Guidelines

Manuscript preparation

Please submit all manuscripts via our online submission and peer review website.

More detailed submissions instructions are available. We suggest that you print out both this Instructions to Authors document and the submissions instructions so that you can refer to them both during the preparation and submission of your manuscript Instructions on submitting your manuscript online can be viewed here.

Regardless of the type of manuscript submitted, an accompanying cover letter is mandatory for all submitted works.
Please note that by submitting an article for publication you confirm that you are the corresponding/submitting author and that AJOST may retain your email address for the purpose of communicating with you about the article. You agree to notify OUP immediately if your details change. If your article is accepted for publication OUP will contact you using the email address you have used in the registration process. Please note that AJOST does not retain copies of rejected articles.

Articles submitted to the AJST  should be original work and should be contributed solely to this journal unless the authors reserve the rights to themselves, before publication, by agreement with the Editors.

The AJST  invites submission of papers on any aspect of science and technology research and practice. We welcome papers on the theory and practice of the whole spectrum of science and technology across the domains of life improvement, and service improvement, with a particular focus on the translation of science into action. Papers on the role of science ethics and law are welcome. We aim to promote the highest standards of science and technology practices internationally through the timely communication of current, best scientific evidence. Our main criteria for grading manuscripts are scientific originality and impact, as well as relevance to science and technology practice.

Availability of Data and Materials

Where ethically feasible, AJST strongly encourages authors to make all data and software code on which the conclusions of the paper rely available to readers. Authors are required to include a Data Availability Statement in their article.

We suggest that data be presented in the main manuscript or additional supporting files, or deposited in a public repository whenever possible. For information on general repositories for all data types, and a list of recommended repositories by subject area, please see Choosing where to archive your data.

Data Availability Statement

The inclusion of a Data Availability Statement is a requirement for articles published in AJST. Data Availability Statements provide a standardised format for readers to understand the availability of data underlying the research results described in the article. The statement may refer to original data generated in the course of the study or to third-party data analysed in the article. The statement should describe and provide means of access, where possible, by linking to the data or providing the required unique identifier.

The Data Availability Statement should be included in the end matter of your article under the heading ‘Data availability’.

Data Citation

Family Practice supports the Force 11 Data Citation Principles and requires that all publicly available datasets be fully referenced in the reference list with an accession number or unique identifier such as a digital object identifier (DOI). Data citations should include the minimum information recommended by DataCite:

• [dataset]* Authors, Year, Title, Publisher (repository or archive name), Identifier

*The inclusion of the [dataset] tag at the beginning of the citation helps us to correctly identify and tag the citation. This tag will be removed from the citation published in the reference list.

Preprint policy

Authors retain the right to make an Author’s Original Version (preprint) available through various channels, and this does not prevent submission to the journal. For further information. 

Types of manuscripts 

Original Papers - should be between 2000 and 3000 words with no more than 4 tables or figures. Further information, for example details of methodology, questionnaires and additional tables can be added for publication in the electronic version.

Chekhov's corner - focuses on the intersection of the science and technology practice. Wide-ranging contributions are considered; for example this might be literature that has prompted them to see a science and technology issue in a new light, or has new relevance for today, helping us to consider an issue or problem in a new light as a science and technology community. Articles should be no longer than 1500 words. Editors welcome author’s idea and proposals.

Short Reports - these papers communicate brief reports of data from original research that will be interesting to the readers and likely to stimulate further research in the field. The format of the main body of the article is flexible: it should be concise, making it easy to read and review, and presented in a format that is appropriate for the type of study presented. Short Reports should be no more than 1000 words and a maximum of 2 tables/figures.

For most Short Reports, the following standard format will be the most appropriate:

•           Introduction

•           Methods

•           Results

•           Conclusions/Discussion

Correspondence to the Editors - letters should be written in response to previous content published in the Journal and must reach us within 4 weeks of publication of the original item. It should be of no more than 500 words. Letters of general interest, unlinked to items published in the journal, may occasionally be considered and should not be more than 400 words long. Only one table or figure is permitted, and there should be no more than five references.  The Editors reserve the right to make revisions.
Articles are approximately 350 words long, with short readable texts, bullet points, and boxes.

Before you submit

Regardless of the type of manuscript, please consider the following questions.

1. Who would want to read this article? And why?
2. What is the research question or policy issue addressed? And what is its science and technology significance? (Methodological virtuosity does not equal public health significance, unless the methodological advance has potential for broad public health application and the article clearly explains this).
3. (Why) is AJST an/the most appropriate journal? You will need to be familiar with the journal to answer this question.
4. What is already known on this topic, and what does your manuscript add? (We ask all original papers to structure their concluding sections around these questions.)
5. Are you confident in the quality and comprehensiveness of your literature review? If not, please don’t submit until you can answer positively; competent reviewers will pick up on this immediately.
6. Is your manuscript likely to be understood by someone without your specific disciplinary background or specialisation? If not, please provide necessary and concise explanations.
7. When there are important controversies about methodology or interpretation of evidence that are relevant to your findings, have you referred to them as necessary?
8. When there are elements of the local, regional or national context about which you are writing that are not likely to be familiar to the Journal’s readership, which is thoroughly international, have you explained these adequately and concisely, with relevant sources cited? 
9. Have you copy-edited the manuscript and references carefully? Especially if English is not your first language, are you confident in the quality of the written English?

Timescale

We make every effort to deal with submissions to the journal as quickly as possible. All papers are acknowledged on receipt and receive editorial review within 3 weeks. About 50% of papers submitted are rejected at this stage. The decision time on papers sent for review is usually about 7 – 10 weeks from submission. After acceptance, your paper will be published online and citable in 6 – 8 weeks, and in the next available quarterly hard copy issue. Overall, about 20% of papers submitted are eventually accepted, usually appearing online 3 – 4 months and in print about 10 – 12 months after initial submission.

General format

While we can accept most word processor formats, the preferred options are Word (.doc) or .rtf file. The page set-up should be set to A4 or American quarto paper sizes. Use one-and-a-half spacing throughout the manuscript and do not insert page numbers. Please avoid using footnotes

Guidelines for reporting of research studies

AJST supports the EQUATOR Network initiative. The EQUATOR Network is an international initiative that seeks to improve reliability and value of medical research literature by promoting transparent and accurate reporting of research studies.

We expect papers submitted to AJOST to meet standards of research reporting to international standards. 

Sections of the manuscript

Title page should include the full title, the surname and initials of each author, plus their main department, institution, city with postal code and country. Addresses may also be given as numbered affiliations. **Please include the position/designation of each author. This should be included between the author name and the affiliation**. The corresponding author should be indicated, and their e-mail address provided. We do not include details of academic awards but we do include Honorary titles.

Abstract - The second page of the manuscript must contain only the Abstract. The abstract should be structured under the following headings: Background; Methods; Results; Conclusions. Reference citations should be avoided. The abstract should be no longer than 200 words.

Discussion - We ask all authors to structure the Discussion section with sub-headings as follows: Main finding of this study What is already known on this topic What this study adds Limitations of this study

Acknowledgments - Should be included at the end of the text and not in footnotes. Personal acknowledgements should precede those of institutions or agencies; include any grant numbers where appropriate.

References - Authors are responsible for the accuracy of the references. In the text references should be numbered consecutively in Arabic numerals. References cited only in tables or figures should be numbered in sequence according to the first mention of the table or figure in the text. All references cited should be listed according to the form of reference adopted by Index Medicus. Up to six authors can be listed; if the number exceeds six, quote the first three followed by et al. The sequence for a standard article is: author(s); title; journal; year; volume; first and last page numbers. The sequence for a book or other publication is: author(s), editor(s) or compiler(s); title; edition number; place of publication; publisher's name; year; first and last pages of reference (if relevant).

Figure Legends - should be typed on a separate sheet. Define all symbols and abbreviations used in the figure. Common abbreviations and others in the preceding text should not be redefined in the legend.

Tables - should be in table format, not inserted as graphics, on separate sheets and numbered consecutively with Roman numerals. They should be self-explanatory, with a brief descriptive title. Footnotes to tables indicated by lower case letters are acceptable, but they should not include extensive experimental detail.

Illustrations - All illustrations (line drawings and photographs) should be referred to in the text as Figure 1, etc., which should be abbreviated to 'Fig. 1.' only in the figure legend. Illustrations should be submitted in Adobe Photoshop compatible formats, preferably .tif, or alternatively .eps or .jpg, and saved as separate files, not embedded in the text file. If submitting line drawings which require reduction, please check that the lettering will be clearly legible after the drawing has been reduced to the size at which it will be printed. After reduction, letters should not be smaller than 1.5 mm in height.

Third-Party Content in Open Access papers:

If you will be publishing your paper under an Open Access licence but it contains material for which you do not have Open Access re-use permissions, please state this clearly by supplying the following credit line alongside the material:

Title of content
Author, Original publication, year of original publication, by permission of [rights holder]

This image/content is not covered by the terms of the Creative Commons licence of this publication. For permission to reuse, please contact the rights holder.

Authorship

All persons designated as authors should qualify for authorship. The order of authorship should be a joint decision of the co-authors. Each author should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for the content. Authorship credit should be based on substantial contribution to conception and design, execution, or analysis and interpretation of data. All authors should be involved in drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content, and must have read and approved the final version of the manuscript. Assurance that all authors of the paper have fulfilled these criteria for authorship should be given in the covering letter.

Conflict of interest

At the point of submission, AJOST's policy requires that each author reveal any financial interests or connections, direct or indirect, or other situations that might raise the question of bias in the work reported or the conclusions, implications, or opinions stated - including pertinent commercial or other sources of funding for the individual author(s) or for the associated department(s) or organization(s), personal relationships, or direct academic competition. When considering whether you should declare a conflicting interest or connection please consider the conflict of interest test: Is there any arrangement that would embarrass you or any of your co-authors if it was to emerge after publication and you had not declared it?

As an integral part of the online submission process, Corresponding authors are required to confirm whether they or their co-authors have any conflicts of interest to declare, and to provide details of these. If the Corresponding author is unable to confirm this information on behalf of all co-authors, the authors in question will then be required to submit a completed Conflict of Interest form to the Editorial Office. It is the Corresponding author’s responsibility to ensure that all authors adhere to this policy.

If the manuscript is published, Conflict of Interest information will be communicated in a statement in the published paper.

Language editing

Please note that the article will not undergo extensive editing by the journal before publication. Particularly if English is not your first language, and before submitting your manuscript, you may wish to have it edited for language. This is not a mandatory step, but may help to ensure that the academic content of your paper is fully understood by journal editors and reviewers. Language editing does not guarantee that your manuscript will be accepted for publication. Authors are liable for all costs associated with such services.