Guidelines for Prospective Authors

Pedagogy in Health Promotion: The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

An Official Journal of the Society for Public Health Education

In addition to the following guidelines, please also review the PHP Author FAQs.

Thank you for considering publication of your manuscript in Pedagogy in Health Promotion: The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (PHP). Please read the following guidelines carefully, as they will help you prepare your manuscript and improve the likelihood of a successful submission.

There are a number of important guidelines and processes we consider before publishing a manuscript. Submission of a manuscript does not guarantee peer review. All manuscripts undergo an initial review by the Editor in Chief and selected members of the Editorial Board. A submission may be rejected without peer review if it does not meet the purpose and editorial guidelines of the journal or if it does not meet a reasonable quality standard for a peer reviewed journal. Please review the journal purpose and aims carefully to see if your manuscript fits within our scope.

PHP adheres to a rigorous double-anonymize peer reviewing policy. The Editor in Chief or members of the Editorial Board may submit manuscripts for publication. In this case, the peer review process will be managed by alternative members of the Board and the submitting Editorial/Board member will not be involved in the decision-making process.

Please note that most manuscripts are not accepted without further revision. Authors should make every effort to address all comments from reviewers in the revision, as this will greatly improve the quality of the manuscript. Submission of the revised manuscript must include a letter detailing the reviewers’ specific comments and how they were addressed in the revision. This will enhance the likelihood of acceptance of your revised manuscript.

PHP is indexed and abstracted in Index Medicus, SCOPUS, CINAHL database, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, Combined Health Information Database, Social Services Abstracts, and Sociological Abstracts. The journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

Please consider the journal’s purpose and read the full set of guidelines for authors before submitting your manuscript to Pedagogy in Health Promotion.

There are no fees payable to submit or publish in this Journal. Open Access options are available - see section below.

PHP offers optional open access publishing via the Sage Choice programme and Open Access agreements, where authors can publish open access either discounted or free of charge depending on the agreement with Sage. Find out if your institution is participating by visiting Open Access Agreements at Sage. For more information on Open Access publishing options at Sage please visit Sage Open Access. For information on funding body compliance, and depositing your article in repositories, please visit Sage’s Author Archiving and Re-Use Guidelines and Publishing Policies.

Journal Purpose and Aims

Pedagogy in Health Promotion advances pedagogy through scholarly contributions addressing the art and science of teaching and learning in health promotion and public health. Click here to review the journal's aims and scope.

Successful submissions will demonstrate firm grounding in the theoretical and/or empirical literature on pedagogy and discuss the relevance of the work to the field of teaching and learning in health promotion and public health.

We suggest you review these two papers to get a sense of manuscripts suitable for publication:

• McBride L.G. and Kanekar A.S. (2015). The scholarship of teaching and learning: Origin, development, and implications for Pedagogy in Health Promotion. Pedagogy in Health Promotion 1(1):8-14. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F2373379914557498
• De Aguiar A. C. (2017). Message from the Editorial Board: Making sure the ‘scholarship’ is in our submissions to Pedagogy in Health Promotion. Pedagogy in Health Promotion 3(3):143-145. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F2373379917727272

• Henderson HL, Sendall MC. Positioning the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Firmly in the Center of Health Promotion Pedagogy. Pedagogy in Health Promotion. December 2021. https://doi.org/10.1177/23733799211061281

A Note on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

We welcome submissions from all countries and global regions. We are strongly committed to inclusiveness, and actively seek manuscripts by authors from diverse backgrounds and identities. We recognize the importance of including a diversity of perspectives, including global experience and innovative theories and paradigms for health promotion pedagogy. The following article provides insights into writing about pedagogy for an international audience:

• Bowles D. C. (2019). Cross-cultural scholarship of Pedagogy in Health Promotion. Pedagogy in Health Promotion 5(3):171-173. /doi/full/10.1177/2373379919861419

Content Areas and Manuscript Types

Pedagogy in Health Promotion accepts original research, descriptive best practices, and thoughtful commentaries and perspectives related to pedagogy in the field of health promotion and public health.  Examples of pedagogical areas addressed in the journal include:

• Application of pedagogical theory
• Innovation and evaluation in:
  • Curriculum
  • Teaching practices
  •  Educational technologies
  •  Experiential learning
  •  Student-centered approaches to teaching
  • Community engagement in pedagogy
• Methods for evaluating pedagogical techniques or educational programs
• Promotion of diversity, equity, and inclusion in curricula and education programs
• Current issues in the administration of health promotion and public health education programs

Content Areas

Manuscripts are categorized around the following six (6) major content areas. You will be asked to specify the applicable content areas during your submission.

• Instruction (the art and science of teaching and learning)
• Curriculum
• Assessment (e.g., evaluation of course curricula or programs)
• Experiential Learning (internship, field placement, service learning, etc.)
• Leadership & Administration (in education)
• Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL)

Manuscript Types

Original Research: Qualitative and quantitative research, systematic and scoping reviews - up to 5,000 words and no more than 35 references.

Original research manuscripts should be based on rigorously designed and analyzed pedagogical studies. Each manuscript in this category should include an Introduction summarizing the current state of knowledge on the topic, a detailed Methodology section which identifies samples, data collection methods, statistical methods used for quantitative analyses, validation methods for qualitative studies, measures used and their validity and reliability properties and IRB status of the work. Substantive details describing the curriculum should be provided in a Background section. A section on Findings should be included, followed by a Discussion section about the implications for teaching and learning. Conclusions should be clearly supported by the findings. Limitations of the research should be discussed. Tables should clearly identify the type of statistic reported and statistical methods used. Systematic reviews should employ and report methods standard for such analyses.

PHP strongly encourages authors to use appropriate reporting guidelines for their study design, promoted by the EQUATOR (Enhancing the QUAlity and Transparency Of health Research) Network (see http://www.equator-network.org).

Descriptive Best Practices: Detailed examination of educational practices – up to 3,000 words and no more than 25 references.

Descriptive Best Practices include manuscripts which examine such topics as: curriculum development; implementation and assessment of a curriculum; use of theory in pedagogy; learning assessment measures, processes, and results; inclusive approaches to pedagogy. Manuscripts in this category should include rationale (theory and/or prior evidence) for the best practice and substantive details describing the curriculum. Manuscripts in this category should include an assessment of the practice. Lessons for the field of health promotion and public health pedagogy should be discussed.

Perspectives on Pedagogy: Thoughtful commentaries, questions, and provocative ideas related to pedagogy - up to 1,750 words and no more than 20 references.

Manuscripts in this category should be thoroughly grounded in supporting evidence-based literature and add to scholarly discourse. Personal opinion pieces are not appropriate.

Editorials: Essays and observations from editorial board members and invited scholars about contemporary issues in pedagogy - 750 to 1,200 words and no more than 20 references.

Assessment Criteria

In addition to the above guidelines for each manuscript type, all manuscripts are assessed based on the following criteria:

• Relevance and contribution to the field of pedagogy in health promotion and public health
• Timeliness of information
• Organization of content
• Clarity of presentation
• Thoroughness in addressing the topic
• Readability and interest
• Appropriate references
• APA citation and reference style

Original Research manuscripts are also rated on the following criteria:

• Significance of the problem statement/rationale
• Methodology and methods
• Findings
• Discussion
• Conclusions
• Implications for the field of pedagogy in health promotion/public health

Please adhere to the guidelines regarding manuscript length according to manuscript type. You may only exceed this word count if reviewers request revisions which require additional information and if the Editor in Chief agrees.

Manuscript Format Guidelines

• PHP only accepts manuscripts in English. We understand the challenge authors may have when English is not their first language. We highly recommend these authors use a professional translation and editing service. For information on a non-affiliated service, contact the PHP Editorial Manager.
• Manuscripts must be double-spaced in Times New Roman, 12-point font.
• References should follow the latest APA style.
• One-inch margins on all sides of document.
• Number each page, including the abstract, in the upper right-hand corner.
• Number every line of the manuscript in the left margin.
• Use a comma before “and” in a string of terms. For example: “…knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors…”, in accordance with APA style. Replace all authors and institutional identifiers with a pseudonym or blanks/blackouts to disguise any educational organization, agency, person, or ethics board in the manuscript.
• The manuscript including references and in-text citations must be written according to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th edition. In-text citations should use the author-date method and listed alphabetically in the reference section. Any manuscript not submitted in the correct reference/citation style will be returned to the author(s).

Tables, Charts, Figures, Graphs, and Photos

• Tables, charts, figures, and graphs must be submitted in black and white and printed at 1,200 dpi or better in PowerPoint, Excel, and Word. Tables etc. should be placed at the end of the manuscript and placement notations should be made throughout the text. For example, “Insert Figure 1 here”. Please submit images exactly how you would like them to be published.
• No more than 4 figures/tables/images per manuscript can be published in a print issue. However, authors may submit additional supplementary files/appendices to be posted with the online version.
• Photos and Grayscale Images should be scanned in the size you wish them to appear in the journal, or larger. Photos are best sent as originals or scanned at the correct size and resolution (300 dpi).

Abstracts

Abstracts should be included on the first page of the manuscript and pasted in a box during submission. Abstracts are unstructured, and must not exceed 250 words. The abstract wordcount must be included at the end of the abstract.

Human Subjects Research Ethics and Patient Consent

Research involving human subjects must be conducted according to the World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki. Submitted manuscripts should conform to the ICMJE Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals. All papers reporting human studies must identify the ethics committee or Institutional Review Board which approved or waived review for the study in the methods section.  Provide the full name and institution of the review committee and the approval number ONLY in the cover letter and title page, and anonymize this information in the manuscript. Authors are required to state in the methods section whether IRB approval was required, and if so, whether participants provided informed consent and whether the consent was written or verbal. Please refer to the ICMJE Recommendations for the Protection of Research Participants.   If the research involves a clinical trial, authors are expected to adhere to guidelines for clinical trials which can be found at Sage manuscript submission guidelines for clinical trials.

Language and Terminology:

Respectful and Inclusive Language: Authors are asked to use respectful and inclusive language in all areas of their manuscript. The American Psychological Association Guidelines for Reducing Bias is an excellent resource: http://supp.apa.org/style/pubman-ch03.00.pdf  as is the Linguistic Society of America’s Guidelines for Inclusive Language https://www.linguisticsociety.org/resource/guidelines-inclusive-language

Health education and health promotion: Authors should define and use whichever term meets the context of the manuscript and be consistent. Please avoid use of “health education/promotion.”

Health education specialist: This term is used to identify a professionally prepared health educator (PPHE) who has (1) completed a degree program in health education and/or (2) earned the Certified Health Education Specialists (CHESÒ) or Master Certified Health Education Specialist (MCHESÒ) certification from the National Commission for Health Education Credentialing. Other health professionals engaging in health education or health promotion should be named according to their health profession designation.

Research Data

The journal is committed to facilitating openness, transparency and reproducibility of research, and has the following research data sharing policy. For more information, including FAQs please visit the Sage Research Data policy pages.

Subject to appropriate ethical and legal considerations, authors are encouraged to:

• share your research data in a relevant public data repository
• include a data availability statement linking to your data. If it is not possible to share your data, we encourage you to consider using the statement to explain why it cannot be shared.
• cite this data in your research

Submitting a Manuscript

• Submit a manuscript through the online manuscript submission, review, and monitoring system, ScholarOne: https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/pihp
• The corresponding author will automatically receive a separate email notification with detailed information about the manuscript once it has been assigned to an issue. Please make sure Pedagogy in Health Promotion is a safe sender in your email account settings.
• Each submission should include a Title Page and Cover Letter, as explained below.
• As part of the online process, be ready to enter the abstract, manuscript word counts and the content area(s) described above.

Title Page

Each submission must include a Title Page with the following:  

• Title of manuscript
• Name, title, and affiliation of each author. List authors in order of contribution or if alpha, state so. Identify the submitting or corresponding author. Affiliation example:

Jane J. Jones, PhD, is Chair of Community Health Education at St. Elsewhere College in Podonk, State (USA).

• Funding. PHP requires all authors to acknowledge funding sources. Please visit the Funding Acknowledgements page on the Sage Journal Author Gateway to ensure the format of the funding acknowledgment. Otherwise, state: This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
• Declaration of Conflict of Interest. PHP requires all authors to declare conflicting interests. For guidance on conflict-of-interest statements, please see the ICMJE recommendations here. If no conflict exists, please state: ‘The Author(s) declare(s) that there is no conflict of interest’.
• Keywords. Please note best practice for assigning key words and that this is a pedagogy journal. See Sage’s resource at http://www.sagepub.com/journalgate way/findArticle.htm

NOTE: The title page MUST be a separate document from the manuscript.

Cover Letter

Authors should prepare a cover letter addressed to the Editor in Chief, and include the following information:

• Title of manuscript.
• Short statement of significance of the manuscript and fit with journal purpose.
• Type of manuscript (e.g., Original Research, Descriptive Best Practices, etc.).
• Whether you are submitting for a standard issue, in response to a specific Call for Papers or if you are an invited author.
• Relevant content areas (at least one of the six major content areas listed above)
• Status of IRB approval. If none, state why. Please note that a determination of exempt status can be made only by your IRB.
• Any clear or potential conflicts of interest with the submission.
• A statement that includes the following: You have read and followed these guidelines for authors, the material does not appear in another publication and the manuscript is not under consideration elsewhere, in any format and in any part. If the manuscript has been previously submitted elsewhere and rejected, please indicate the name of the publication and the decision offered by the journal. Please briefly explain how this submission is different, if any, from the previous submission.
• List and order of authors with emails and affiliations.
• List the corresponding author’s institutional or organizational mailing address; personal addresses are not required.
• Manuscript word count (not including references).

NOTE: Author(s), their affiliations, and any other information linking the manuscript to the authors must be included in the title page and cover letter ONLY.

Copyright

Upon manuscript acceptance, you will be required to electronically sign a transfer of copyright form on behalf of the authors—except in the case of Work Made for Hire. In this case, an employer’s signature is required. The copyright form is available on Pedagogy in Health Promotion’s ScholarOne site.

OnlineFirst/Publish Ahead of Print

Pedagogy in Health Promotion uses OnlineFirst, a Sage Journals Online feature where final manuscripts are published online prior to the print issue. This feature makes your research accessible to our readers and the public in a timely manner. For your information please visit: /page/help/online-first During the production process each manuscript is assigned a Digital Object Identifier (DOI). You can find this number on the top right-hand corner of the first page of your proofs. When your manuscript is available through OnlineFirst, it can be cited using the DOI.

Here is an example:

Chaney, B., Elmore, L., Paravattil, B., Lysoby, L. Rehrig, M., & Gambescia, S. F. (2012, September 18). A summative report of applications submitted for the experience documentation opportunity for the master certified health education specialist credential. Health Promotion Practice. Advance online publication. doi:10.1177/1524839912455176

After your manuscript is assigned to a specific issue, you should update your citation to include year, volume, and page number information, as well as the DOI:

B., Elmore, L., Paravattil, B., Lysoby, L. Rehrig, M., & Gambescia, S. F. (2013). A summative report of applications submitted for the experience documentation opportunity for the master certified health education specialist credential. Health Promotion Practice, 14, 354- 363. doi:10.1177/1524839912455176

Submission Checklist

1. Does your manuscript align with the purpose of PHP?
2. Did you create a Title Page?
3. Does your Cover Letter identify funding source, any conflict of interest, and IRB approval?
4. Do your references comply with the APA 7th ed. format?
5. Have you noted where tables or figures should be inserted within the text?
6. Have you anonymized all identifying information, such authors and funding?

Serving as a Peer Reviewer

The high quality of the manuscripts in Pedagogy in Health Promotion directly relates to the expertise and dedication of our reviewers. We encourage you to consider serving as a peer reviewer for the journal. An “active reviewer” is one who reviews at least two manuscripts per calendar year. This type of service is eligible for continuing education contact hours for CHESÒ and MCHESÒ and may be applicable for other health professions. Each year, reviewers are acknowledged in an issue of the journal. Applicants should meet the following minimum requirements:

• Demonstrate a strong interest the scholarship of teaching and learning;
• Ability to meet deadlines to ensure authors receive a timely response;
• Experience or willingness to learn, peer reviewing in the field;
• At a minimum, hold a master’s degree or equivalent experience, in a relevant field.

For consideration as a peer reviewer, send a cover letter and CV to the Editor in Chief. Your cover letter should outline your specific areas of expertise, peer reviewing experience, and your interest in health promotion pedagogy. If you are accepted, you will be asked to complete a profile account in our ScholarOne manuscript review system.

ORCID

As part of our commitment to ensuring an ethical, transparent and fair peer review process Sage is a supporting member of ORCID, the Open Researcher and Contributor ID. ORCID provides a unique and persistent digital identifier which distinguishes researchers, including those who share the same name. Through integration in key research workflows such as manuscript and grant submission, ORCID supports automated linkages between researchers and their professional activities, ensuring their manuscript is recognized.

The collection of ORCID IDs from corresponding authors is part of the submission process of this journal. If you have an ORCID ID, you will be asked to associate it to your manuscript during the online submission process. We strongly encourage all co-authors to link their ORCID ID to their accounts in our online peer review platforms. Your ORCID ID will become part of your accepted publication’s metadata, making your work attributable to you and only you. Your ORCID ID is published with your manuscript so other researchers reading your manuscript can link to your ORCID profile and other publications.

If you do not already have an ORCID ID please follow this link to create one or visit our ORCID homepage to learn more.

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We hope you find these guidelines helpful. Please provide any feedback about ways we can increase clarity and effectiveness in our publication process. Feel free to contact the Editor in Chief or our Editorial Manager during the process of conception, writing, review, and submission of your manuscript.

PHP Editorial Office Contacts:

Cheska Shahra, PHP Managing Editor
J&J Editorial
Email: PHP@publishingsolutions.net

Editor in Chief: Heather Henderson, EdD, MSHCM, MA, LAPC
Email: php_editor@sophe.org