Information for authors

GUIDE FOR AUTHORS

Criteria for manuscripts

The editorial board of Journal of Nursing, Social Studies, Public Health and Rehabilitation takes under consideration for publication: original articles, review articles, and case reports from all fields covered by the journal. Articles from the field of nursing and health and social studies will be prioritized.

The editorial board of journal takes under consideration for publication original articles with the understanding that neither the manuscript nor any parts of its essential substance, tables or figures have been published previously in print form or electronically and are not under consideration by any other publication or electronic medium. Copies of any closely related manuscripts should be submitted to the editor along with the manuscript that is to be considered by Journal of Nursing, Social Studies, Public Health and Rehabilitation. Each submission should include a statement signed by the first author that the work has not been published previously or submitted elsewhere for review (see statement).

All articles are published with open access under the Creative Commons CC-BY license (the current version is CC-BY, version 4.0). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this Journal is cited in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, which does not comply with these terms.

Submission checklist

Your submitted manuscript must contain parts (1-4). The individual parts are specified in detail below in the subsection Manuscript preparation

1) Title page – title of the paper, names and workplaces of authors, corresponding author, acknowledgments and funding

2) Structured abstract (1200–1500 characters including spaces) and keywords (4–6)

3) The actual text of the paper including the list of references (title of the paper, introduction, methodology and characteristics of the file, results, discussion, conclusion, list of references, tables, figures, supplements)

4) Authors' statement – upload the signed statement in pdf format during manuscript submission, you can download the template here (statement).

Ensure that the following items are present:

• Manuscript has been 'spell-checked' and 'grammar-checked‘.
• Ensure all figure and table citations in the text match the files provided.
• References are in the correct format for this journal and all references mentioned in the reference list are cited in the text.
• Permission has been obtained for use of copyrighted material from other sources.
• A competing interests statement is provided, even if the authors have no competing interests to declare.
• Journal policies detailed in this guide have been reviewed.
• Reviewer suggestions and their contact details.

Ethics in publishing

The journal's Publication Ethics policy follows the COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics) guidelines available here: https://publicationethics.org/. The Publication Ethics guidelines cover, among others, the duties of editors, reviewers, authors and the publisher.

Research ethics and patient consent

All research involving human subjects presented in the submitted manuscripts must have been carried out in accordance with the Helsinki Declaration of 1964 (amended 2024). Information on informed consent to report individual cases or case series should be included in the manuscript text. A statement is required regarding whether written informed consent for patient information and images to be published was provided by the patient(s) or a legally authorized representative. Please do not submit the patient’s actual written informed consent with your article, as this in itself breaches the patient’s confidentiality.

Please also refer to the ICMJE Recommendations for the Protection of Research Participants.

Conflict of interest

All authors are requested to disclose any actual or potential conflicts of interests including financial, personal or other relationships with other people or organizations within three years of beginning the submitted work that could inappropriately influence, or be perceived to influence, their work. Examples of potential competing interests include employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, paid expert testimony, patent applications/registrations, and grants or other funding. Authors must disclose any interests in two places:

1. A summary declaration of interest statement in the title page file. If there are no interests to declare then please state this: 'Declarations of interest: none'. This summary statement will be ultimately published if the article is accepted.

2. Detailed disclosures as part of a separate declaration of interest form, which makes up part of the journal's official records. It is important for potential interests to be declared in both places and that the information matches.

Submission declaration

Submission of an article implies that the work described has not been published previously (except in the form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture or academic thesis), that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere, that its publication is approved by all authors and tacitly or explicitly by the responsible authorities where the work was carried out, and that, if accepted, it will not be published elsewhere including electronically in the same form, in English or in any other language, without the written consent of the copyright-holder. To verify originality, your article may be checked by the originality detection service iThenticate.

Use of inclusive language

Inclusive language acknowledges diversity, conveys respect to all people, is sensitive to differences, and promotes equal opportunities. Articles should make no assumptions about the beliefs or commitments of any reader, should contain nothing which might imply that one individual is superior to another on the grounds of race, sex, culture or any other characteristic, and should use inclusive language throughout. Authors should ensure that writing is free from bias, for instance by using 'he or she', 'his/her' instead of 'he' or 'his', and by making use of job titles that are free of stereotyping (e.g. 'chairperson' instead of 'chairman' and 'flight attendant' instead of 'stewardess').

Changes to authorship

This policy concerns the addition, deletion, or rearrangement of author names in the authorship of accepted manuscripts. Requests to add or remove an author, or to rearrange the author names, must be sent to the journal's Editor-in-Chief from the author for correspondence of the accepted manuscript and must include: (a) the reason the name should be added or removed, or the author names rearranged and (b) written confirmation (e-mail, fax, letter) from all authors that they agree with the addition, removal or rearrangement. In the case of addition or removal of authors, this includes confirmation from the author being added or removed. Requests that are not sent by the corresponding author will be forwarded by the journal's Editor-In-Chief to the author for correspondence, who must follow the procedure as described above. Note that: publication of the accepted manuscript in an online issue will be suspended until authorship has been agreed.

Role of the funding source

You are requested to identify who provided financial support for the conduct of the research and/or preparation of the article and to briefly describe the role of the sponsor(s), if any, in study design; in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; and in the decision to submit the article for publication. If the funding source(s) had no such involvement then this should be stated.

Language

Please write your text in good English (American or British usage is accepted, but not a mixture of these). Authors who feel their English language manuscript may require editing to eliminate possible grammatical or spelling errors, may use the English language editing service.

Submission

Submission to this journal proceeds totally online and you will be guided step-by-step through the creation and uploading of your files. The system automatically converts source files to a single PDF file of the article, which is used in the peer-review process. Please note that even though manuscript source files are converted to PDF files at submission for the review process, these source files are needed for further processing after acceptance. Editable files (e.g., Word) are required to typeset your article for final publication. All correspondence, including notification of the editor's decision and requests for revision, takes place by e-mail removing the need for a paper trail.

Contributors

The first or corresponding author has to declare individual contributions of the co-authors to the article: all authors must have materially participated in the research and/or article preparation, so roles for all authors should be described. The statement that all authors have approved the final article should be true and included in the disclosure.

Review Process

It is understood that all authors listed on a manuscript have agreed to its submission. The signature of the corresponding author on the letter of submission signifies that these conditions have been fulfilled. Received manuscripts are first examined by the editors. Manuscripts with insufficient priority for publication are rejected promptly. Incomplete submissions or manuscripts not prepared in the advised style will be sent back to authors without scientific review. Submitted papers are accepted for publication after a positive opinion of the independent reviewers.

Peer review

This journal operates a double-blind review process. All contributions will be initially assessed by the editor for suitability for the journal. Papers deemed suitable are then typically sent to a minimum of two independent expert reviewers to assess the scientific quality of the paper. The editor is responsible for the final decision regarding acceptance or rejection of articles. The editor's decision is final.

Double-blind review

This journal uses double-blind review, which means the identities of the authors are concealed from the reviewers, and vice versa. To facilitate this, please include the following separately: Title page (with author details): This should include the title, authors' names, affiliations, acknowledgements and any declaration of interest statement, and a complete address for the corresponding author including an e-mail address. Blinded manuscript (no author details): The main body of the paper (including the references, figures, tables and any acknowledgements) should not include any identifying information, such as the authors' names or affiliations.

Submit your article

Please submit your article via: https://jnss.zsf.jcu.cz/

Reviewers

Please submit the names, addresses and e-mail addresses of two potential reviewers along with the manuscript. Note that the editor retains the sole right to decide whether or not the suggested reviewers are used.

Manuscript preparation

Use of word processing software

It is important that the file be saved in the native format of the word processor used. The text should be in single-column format. Keep the layout of the text as simple as possible. Most formatting codes will be removed and replaced on processing the article. However, do use bold face, italics, subscripts, superscripts etc. When preparing tables, if you are using a table grid, use only one grid for each individual table and not a grid for each row. If no grid is used, use tabs, not spaces, to align columns. Note that source files of figures, tables and text graphics will be required whether or not you embed your figures in the text. See also the section on electronic artwork. To avoid unnecessary errors you are strongly advised to use the 'spell-check' and 'grammar-check' functions of your word processor.

Article length and structure

Arrange the manuscript as follows: (1) title page, (2) abstract and keywords, (3) text including tables and figures, (4) acknowledgments, (5) references, (6) disclosures if required. Do not use manuscript line numbers. You may further subdivide your article into clearly defined sections. Any subsection may be given a brief heading. Each heading should appear on its own separate line. The word limit for an original research article should not exceed 5,500 words, including title page, abstract, text, acknowledgments, disclosures, tables, figure legends, entire reference list and disclosures. Review articles should not exceed 6,500 words in total. Please do not exceed a combined maximum of 10 figures and/or tables per article. Submissions, which do not follow format instructions and limits, will not be considered for publication. The text of the article should be structured as follows:

(1) Title page (necessary information)

• Title. Concise and informative, it should not exceed 10 words. Titles are often used in information-retrieval systems. Avoid abbreviations and formulae where possible.
• Author names and affiliations. Where the family name may be ambiguous (e.g., a double name), please indicate this clearly. Present the authors' affiliation addresses (where the actual work was done) below the names. Indicate all affiliations with a lower-case superscript letter immediately after the author's name and in front of the appropriate address. Provide the full postal address of each affiliation, including the country name and, if available, the e-mail address of each author.
• Author for correspondence. Clearly indicate who will handle correspondence at all stages of review and publication process and also post-publication. Ensure that phone numbers (with country and area code) are provided in addition to the e-mail address and the complete postal address. Contact details must be kept up to date by the corresponding author.
• Present/permanent address. If an author has moved since the work described in the article was done, or was visiting at the time, a 'present address' (or 'permanent address') may be indicated as a footnote to that author's name. The address at which the author actually did the work must be retained as the main affiliation address. Superscript Arabic numerals are used for such footnotes.

(2) Abstract and keywords

• Abstract – a concise and factual abstract is required. It should be brief and factual. The abstract should state briefly the purpose of the research, the principal results and major conclusions. An abstract is often presented separately from the article, so it must be able to stand alone. For this reason, references should be avoided, but if essential, then cite the author(s) and year(s). Also, non-standard or uncommon abbreviations should be avoided, but if essential they must be defined at their first mention in the abstract itself. (1,200–1,500 characters including spaces).
• Keywords – Immediately after the abstract, provide 4–6 keywords avoiding general and plural terms and multiple concepts (avoid, for example, “and“, “of“). Be sparing with abbreviations: only abbreviations firmly established in the field may be eligible. These keywords will be used for indexing purposes.

(3) Text of publication

• Introduction – state the objectives of the work and provide an adequate background, avoiding a detailed literature survey or a summary of the results.
• Materials and methods – provide sufficient detail to allow the work to be reproduced. Methods already published should be indicated by a reference: only relevant modifications should be described.
• Results – results should be clear and concise.
• Discussion – this should explore the significance of the results of the work, not repeat them. A combined results and discussion section is often appropriate. It is necessary to compare your results with results of other authors, to interprete differences of your results etc. Please avoid extensive quoting and discussions about literature.
• Conclusions – the main conclusions of the study should be presented in a short conclusion section. It may contain conclusions as well as recommendation for practice. It must not contain citation.

(4) Acknowledgements

List here those individuals and institutions which provided help during the research.

(5) The list of references

The list of references should be listed alphabetically and then chronologically in the following format:

• Scientific article: Ratheesh M, Shyni GL, Helen A (2009). Methanolic extract of Ruta graveolens L. inhibits inflammation and oxidative stress in adjuvant induced model of arthritis in rats. Inflammopharmacology 17(8): 100–105. DOI: 10.111/evj.12774.
• Book: Ratheesh M, Shyni GL, Helen A (2009). Methanolic extract of Ruta graveolens L. inhibits inflammation and oxidative stress in adjuvant induced model of arthritis in rats. Prague: Springer, 105 p.
• Book chapter: Ratheesh M, Shyni GL, Helen A (2009). Methanolic extract of Ruta graveolens L. inhibits inflammation and oxidative stress in adjuvant induced model of arthritis in rats. In: Ratheesh M (Ed.). Oxidative stress models. London: Springer, pp. 100–105.

In case of more than six co-authors, list first six and then use “et al.” For example:

Hossen MJ, Baek KS, Kim E, Yang WS, Jeong D, Kim JH, et al. (2015). In vivo and in vitro anti-inflammatory activities of Persicariachinensis methanolic extract targeting Src/Syk/NF-κB. J Qual Patient Saf 159(8): 9–16. DOI: 10.1136/bjsports-2011-090185.

Please include the DOI, volume and issue numbers in the reference list, where applicable.

Citations in text – references

Please use the Harvard style of citation. For example:

...an anti-inflammatory effect in chronic inflammation (Ratheesh et al., 2009).

...gradient centrifugation using the method of Radhika et al. (2007).

All citations in the text should refer to:

• Single author: the author's name and the year of publication; e.g. (Allan, 2000)
• Two authors: both authors' names and the year of publication; e.g. (Allan and Jones, 1999)
• Three or more authors: first author's name followed by 'et al.' and the year of publication. e.g. (Kramer et al., 2008)

Groups of references in the text

Groups of references should be listed first alphabetically, then chronologically, for example:

(Bornes et al., 2014; Gimble and Guilak, 2003; Minozio et al., 2014).

(Allan, 2010a, b; Allan and Jones, 2010; Allan et al., 2005a; 2006; 2010).

(6) Appendices

If there is more than one appendix, they should be identified as A, B, etc.

(7) Journal abbreviations source

Journal names should be abbreviated according to the List of Title Word Abbreviations.

Abbreviations

Define abbreviations that are not standard in this field in a footnote to be placed on the first page of the article. Such abbreviations that are unavoidable in the abstract must be defined at their first mention, as well as in the footnote. Ensure consistency of abbreviations throughout the article.

Figures, Tables, Graphs

• Make sure you use uniform lettering and sizing of your original figure, table or graph. Embed the used fonts if the application provides that option.
• Aim to use the following fonts in your illustrations: Arial, Courier, Times New Roman, Symbol, or use fonts that look similar.
• Number the illustrations according to their sequence in the text.
• Use a logical naming convention for your artwork files.
• Provide captions to illustrations separately.
• Size the illustrations close to the desired dimensions of the printed version.
• Submit each illustration as a separate file.
• Formats – if your tables, graphs or figures were created in Microsoft office application (Word, PowerPoint, Excel), submit it in this format. If you created your artwork in different application, please convert it into one of Microsoft office applications. Photographs or figures in TIFF (or JPG) format must have a minimum resolution of 300 dpi. Bitmap drawings (black & white pixels) must have a minimum resolution of 1000 dpi. Combination of bitmap drawings (color or gray scale) must have a minimum resolution of 500 dpi.

Please do not:

• Supply files that are optimized for screen use (e.g., GIF, BMP, PICT, WPG); these typically have a low number of pixels and limited set of colors.
• Supply files that are too low in resolution.

Color artwork

Please make sure that artwork files are in an acceptable format: TIFF (or JPEG), EPS (or PDF), or MS Office files and with the correct resolution. If, together with your accepted article, you submit usable color figures, we will ensure, at no additional charge, that these figures will appear in color on the Web.

Illustration captions

Ensure that each illustration has a caption. Supply captions separately, not attached to the figure. A caption should comprise a brief title (not on the figure itself) and a description of the illustration. Keep text in the illustrations themselves to a minimum but explain all symbols and abbreviations used.

Tables

Number tables consecutively in accordance with their appearance in the text. Place footnotes to tables below the table body and indicate them with superscript lowercase letters. Be sparing in the use of tables and ensure that the data presented in tables do not duplicate results described elsewhere in the article.

Math formulae

Present simple formulae in the line of normal text where possible and use the solidus (/) instead of a horizontal line for small fractional terms, e.g., X/Y. In principle, variables are to be presented in italics. Powers of e are often more conveniently denoted by exp. Number consecutively any equations that have to be displayed separately from the text (if referred to explicitly in the text).

Equations

Number equations consecutively, with the number placed in parentheses to the extreme right of the equation. Refer to equations as Eq. (3) or simply (3). Punctuate equations to conform to their place in the syntax of the sentence.

Attachments