Submission Guidelines

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A. Submitting a manuscript
  • All manuscripts must be written in English.
  • All submitted manuscripts on the Health System of a country, must conform to outlined format. No exceptions will be accepted.
  • All manuscripts must be typed on one side of the paper, double-spaced, with 1-inch margins on all sides, the pages must be numbered, and the name of the principal author should appear on each of the pages.
B. Introduction to the country: geography, socio-cultural, and political perspectives of countries featured

These introductions are key to understanding health systems of featured countries. We highly encourage the lead author to write this introduction with at least one person with social sciences background. It will be important to acknowledge, as outlined, any contribution.

This introduction will describe the context in which the health system evolves. That context is shaped by the people and their cultural norms within their environment. In turn the political systems these countries have adopted since independence, along with the socio-cultural factors have shaped the delivery health care services, and ultimately had an impact on existing traditional medicine.

Issues that must be addressed in the introduction to a country

Geography
  • Brief description of the country. No more than 10 lines.
Demographic database
  • total population
  • growth rate
  • brake down of the population: rural versus urban
  • the expected growth rate for the rural and urban population
  • life expectancy
  • birth rate
  • infant mortality
  • maternal mortality
  • average number of children per mother
Education
  • percent of GNP government spends on education, and projected evolution over time (i.e. from 5% in 1987 to 16% in 1996)
  • percent of children attending elementary school (brake down percentage for boys and girls)
  • percent of children attending secondary school (brake down percent for boys and girls)
  • percent of youth attending university (brake down percent for boys and girls)
Access to information
  • percent of people with a radio (rural and urban percentages)
  • percent of people with a television (rural and urban percentages)
  • the press (provide names of existing papers, frequency of print, and numbers printed)
Access to potable water
  • percent of population with access to potable water in urban areas
  • percent of population with access to potable water in rural areas

The purpose of this geographical background is to assist the reader understand the contributions of the above factors on the health status of people of a featured country.

In the following two sections contributing authors have to concisely outline and demonstrate how over time (authors should select a time span relevant to their presentation) socio-cultural and political environments have contributed to shaping-up the health care system being described.

Socio-cultural perspectives
Health systems around the world will vary from country to country, and over time have been affected by the role families and communities have played in the delivery of health care. We expect the contributing author to concisely describe and analyze all relevant socio-cultural influences that contributed to shaping-up the health system.
Political perspectives
A country's political environment can at times be the single most important influence in shaping-up the health care system. All contributing authors should clearly analyze these influences and/or factors, and demonstrate their impact on the organization and financing of the described health care system. Influences, such as the private and public sector in the provision of health care, and the role played by politicians in passing laws should be addressed in this section; as well as the issue of "how do health care policies evolve?".

For the above three sections, we strongly recommend that contributing authors work with experts in those respective fields, i.e. geography, sociology, anthropology, political sciences. Please do acknowledge their contributions in your manuscript.

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C. The Health System of the Country
  • Respect the proposed outline in writing your chapter.
  • Skipping a section because it does not exist in the featured country, will disqualify the manuscript. Should no emergencies services be provided in the country, the reasons must be clearly stated.

Authors disclaimer: The principal author, and any co-authors on the background section as well as on the health system's section must sign a letter clearly stating; (1) the level of effort and contribution to the manuscript, and the principal author will take public responsibility for the content of the manuscript, and (2) that this manuscript is not being considered elsewhere for publication.

Acknowledgments: Write this on a separate sheet. Please acknowledge anyone who may have contributed to the conception, design, and review of the paper prior to submission. If in country support was provided by either the Ministry of Health, the World Health Organization (WHO) country Office, and/or any international organization, please acknowledge their support.

Format: All manuscripts must be typed using no less than a 10 FONT size (Times, Helvetica, Arial, or Courier will be accepted) on one side of the paper only, double-spaced, with one-inch margins. The pages should be numbered, along with the author's name.

References: In the body of the text provide the author's name with no initials and dates, i.e. (Kabano 1997). In the reference section at the end of the manuscript references should be listed alphabetically by author. Follow the three examples for your references. The order should be: Author's name, initials, year of publication in parentheses, title, edition, name of the publisher, and site of publication. The three options are: 1). an article in a journal, 2). a book and/or published manual, and 3). a chapter in a book.

  • Li S.H.; Gutekunst C-A; Hersch S.M.; Li X.J. (1998) Interaction of huntingtin-associated protein with dynactin P150Glued. Journal of Neuroscience 15; 18(4): 1261-9.
  • Gutekunst, M.D. & al. (1996) SEPIG, Systme de Surveillance Epidmiologique de Guine (SEPIG: Epidemiological Surveillance System for Guinea). ASE International: Atlanta.
  • Haba, L.P. (1999) Health System of Guinea. In: Gutekunst M.D. (ed.) Selected Health Systems of Africa, pp 23-42. The Edwin Mellen Press, New York.

Acronyms: Include only acronyms that are commonly used, such as WHO, UN, UNDP, USAID, MoH, MCH, etc.

Footnotes: Will not be accepted.

Illustrations: Drawings, graphs, maps, and photographs should be cited in the text, and submitted on separate sheets. When providing photographs, label them in the back and provide the proper legend. Drawings should use black ink or indian ink, and again provide the proper legends for drawings and graphs. Only orginals copies of maps or high contrast excellent photocopies will be accepted.

Tables and figures: All tables and figures should be submitted on separate sheets of paper. All tables and figures should be numbered with the proper legend. All figures and tables should be professionally drawn, with narrow bars, and lettering large enough so it can be reduced to fit in the manuscript. Clearly indicate in the body of the text either the table or figure number.

Appendices: We will not print any appendices. However on a separate sheet you may list them using the above reference guidelines.

Supplementary material: If you have any relevant supplementary materials that may be used by the Editorial Committees in reviewing the manuscript please submit one legible copy. On the line above the reference, please indicate the relevancy of the included materials and the corresponding section in the manuscript by giving page numbers.

Copyright: All contributing authors must assign the copyright of the submitted manuscripts to Forging New Tomorrows, Inc. Authors will receive from FNT International the signed permission to reproduce the published manuscripts for non-commercial use.

Curriculum vitae: All authors and contributing authors must submit an updated curriculum, that will be used to write the brief paragraph of each of the authors. This section will appear at the beginning of the book.

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D. Checklist before sending the manuscript
Submit A Manuscript Online >
  • Cover letter signed by:
    (1) the principal author,
    (2) the contributing author (introduction to the country)
  • a manuscript as outlined
  • references: check accuracy and style
  • tables submitted on separate sheets: numbered with legends
  • figures submitted on separate sheets: numbered with legends
  • drawings submitted on separate sheets: numbered with legends
  • graphs submitted on separate sheets: numbered with legends
  • photographs submitted on separate sheets: numbered with legends
  • acknowledgments
  • an updated curriculum vitae from the author, and contributing authors
All correspondence should be addressed to:

Selected Health Systems of Africa
Managing Editor
Forging New Tomorrows, Inc.
Po Box 15447
Atlanta, GA 30333
USA

SHSofA Managing Editor
http://www.SHSofA.org

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E. Review process

The Managing Editor will acknowledge receipt of the manuscript and any supporting documents. If anything is missing you will be immediately informed.