Health Promotion Practice

Message from the Editor-in-Chief:

Welcome to this submission guide for potential authors. I am delighted that you are considering Health Promotion Practice (HPP) for publication of your work.

HPP welcomes submissions in several formats:

• Articles (3,500 word limit)
• Research Briefs (2,000 words)
• Implementation Science articles (4,000 words)
• Review/Evidence Synthesis articles (4,000 words)
• Short articles or commentary in our three departments: Career Development, Practice Notes, and Resources, Frameworks and Perspectives.

All submissions undergo rigorous peer review. Our average time from submission to first decision is 50 days.  Accepted material is published and available OnlineFirst and then assigned to a print issue. 

Material in HPP is discoverable through a wide range of indices and databases, including PubMed, Index Medicus, CINAHL, and Clarivate’s Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI). A proactive social media campaign and the weekly HPP Podcast support getting our content in front of as many potential users as possible. Our primary focus is material of relevance to health promotion policy makers and advocates, practitioners, researchers, and funders.

The Journal is published by the Society for Public Health Education.  We welcome submissions from all disciplines relevant to health promotion practice.

A Few Important Notes:

• Check your settings!  Please make sure that Health Promotion Practice emails are not filtering into your "Bulk" or "Spam" folders by indicating that Health Promotion Practice (onbehalfof@manuscriptcentral.com) is a safe email sender in your email account settings.
• Get to know the journal!  You can access articles from the HPP website, including many that are free and open access. 
• Join the conversation!  Experience the energy of HPP’s social media presence for yourself:
  • On twitter @TheHPPJournal
  • Follow and tag our hashtag #TheHPPJournal 
  • Connect with us on LinkedIn
  • Subscribe to The HPP Podcast on Spotify, Apple, Google, or wherever you get your podcasts
• Get to know SOPHE and Sage.  Health Promotion Practice is published through a partnership between The Society for Public Health Education (SOPHE) and Sage Publishing. If you aren’t already familiar with the resources on their websites, check them out!
• Get to know us! At HPP, we believe that publishing should never be mysterious and that our strength lies in our values and commitments. You can learn more about us, in our own words, through these freely available resources:
  • The Power of Words (2020) and The Power of Words 2.0 (2021) – in which Deputy Editor Holly Mata and I explain HPP’s language commitments
  • Behind the Scenes at HPP #1: Our Editorial Board – a look at the role and contributions of HPP’s Editorial Board
  • The Gift of Peer Review: A Note to My Younger Self – what I wish I had known when I submitted my first manuscript!
  • Exploring and Demystifying HPP's Peer Review Process – an episode of The HPP Podcast in which Editorial Board Member Valerie Paz-Soldán and I talk about peer review with Host Arden Castle

This is an exciting time for Health Promotion Practice. Since our first issue in January 2000, the Journal has proudly published a wide range of content bringing forward both new and established authors, addressing leading edge issues with the discipline of science, nuanced insight from practice, and practical tools. We look forward to your submission!

Kathleen M. Roe, DrPH, MPH
Editor-in-Chief, Health Promotion Practice
@KathleenMRoe

Submitting Your Manuscript to HPP

The editorial process is managed entirely online through ScholarOne https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/hppractice.

Please note that submitting a manuscript does not guarantee full peer review. Each manuscript undergoes careful screening by a member of the editorial leadership, who then decides if it should go forward for peer review. 

Manuscript Categories

HPP invites the following article categories:

Full-length Articles: These manuscripts may be up to 3,500 text words (not including 250- word abstract, tables/figures/images, or references).  Manuscripts must include a conceptual framework, and clearly and specifically advance knowledge relevant to the field of health promotion.  A substantive section labeled “Implications for Practice” must be included at or near the end of the text; authors are encouraged to include implications for policy and research in this title and its text.  Print articles may include up to 30 references and up to 5 tables/figures/images.

Implementation Science Articles: These manuscripts maybe be up to 4,000 words but must be very clearly structured, with emphasis on implementation science. Specific and substantive implications for practice, policy, and research are expected. Submissions must include a 250-word abstract (not included in the word count).  Authors are asked to be judicious in the number of relevant references and tables/figures/images. Additional material can be submitted as Supplemental Content and permanently linked to the published article.

Evidence Synthesis/Review Articles: HPP seeks to publish useful and timely reviews of current literature, particularly mapping, scoping, narrative, and/or state of the art reviews and evidence syntheses.  Reviews are expected to adhere to the PRISMA guidelines  for review and meta-analysis articles. Manuscripts in this category may include up to 4,000  text words and up to 4 tables/figures/images. Review articles must address a new question and make specific linkages to health promotion policy and practice to move to peer review.

Research Briefs: These shorter articles succinctly present research results of interest to health promotion scholars and practitioners. Research Brief submissions may be up to 2,000 text words, with no more than three tables/figures/images.  The submission must include a 250-word abstract and no more than 15 references. Because Research Briefs are intended to share important, late-breaking findings, reported data must have been collected within the past five years.

The Journal also publishes brief articles and reflective commentary in three departments:  

Career Development provides practical resources for health education specialists and other professionals working in diverse health promotion settings. Articles address issues across the lifespan and career path, and may focus on academic preparation, workforce development, credentialing and accreditation, internship and fellowship experiences, professional development opportunities, and retirement. Submissions may be up to 2,000 words, must include a 250-word abstract, and no more than 10 references and 2 tables/figures/images.

Resources, Frameworks, & Perspectives provides a forum for shorter articles and commentaries that are grounded in the spirit and science of health promotion practice and policy.  Submissions may focus on resources (e.g., data visualization or mapping tools, law and policy databases, advocacy toolkits), innovative applications of theoretical frameworks, or policy, systems, and environmental change strategies to promote health equity.  Submissions may be up to 2,000 words, include no more than 10 references and 2 tables/figures/images, and must include a 250-word abstract. 

Practice Notes elevates our practitioner voices and provides readers with reflections on emerging and innovative practice-related strategies, initiatives, and programs important to health promotion and health education. Submissions highlight lessons learned, challenges and successes, and practical recommendations for working collaboratively in community or classroom settings. Practice Notes may include up to 1,000 text words, with no more than 5 references and 1 table/figure/image, and must include a 250-word abstract.  Headings may include (but are not limited to): assessment of need, description of the strategy or innovation, intended impact/outcomes, evaluation approach, challenges and successes, next steps, lessons learned, and implications for practice.

For all of our Departments  – and especially for Practice Notes – we encourage practitioner and community member authors, and welcome pre-submission inquiries. Authors interested in contributing to HPP’s departments are invited to contact Managing Editor, Miranda Bohl at HPP@jjeditorial.com or Deputy Editor Holly Mata at mata.holly@gmail.com.

Submission Requirements for all Manuscripts

Online submission: Manuscripts must be submitted online at the Health Promotion Practice ScholarOne portal at https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/hppractice.  The site contains detailed instructions on how to submit and track the manuscript through the review process.

Alignment with HPP’s mission: All submissions to Health Promotion Practice should address some aspect of the journal’s mission.  Articles without clearly articulated implications for health promotion practice and/or policy will be declined without peer review.

Respectful,  inclusive, and non-stigmatizing language: Please use respectful and inclusive language in all areas of your submission.  In particular, we ask authors to consider the following word choices:

For more information on the HPP philosophy on language and word choices, please see:

  Roe, K. M., & Mata, H. J. (2019). The Power of Words. Health Promotion Practice, 20(2), 153–156. https://doi.org/10.1177/1524839919827900

  Mata, H. J., & Roe, K. M. (2021). The Power of Words 2.0. Health Promotion Practice, 22(3), 293–294. https://doi.org/10.1177/15248399211001068

Additional Resources

The American Psychological Association’s Guidelines for Bias-Free Language is a helpful resources, available at: https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/bias-free-language.

On Racism: A New Standard For Publishing On Racial Health Inequities provides important guidance and proposed standards for researchers, journals, and peer reviewers: https://www.healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/hblog20200630.939347/full/

We also recommend the Linguistic Society of America’s Guidelines for Inclusive Language https://www.linguisticsociety.org/resource/guidelines-inclusive-language

The Manuscript

Style and Format: All manuscripts must be prepared in English according to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th edition). In particular, authors are requested to pay attention to the following: 

• 1” margins, Times New Roman 12-point font, double-spaced
• Number every line of the manuscript in the left margin
• Carefully review the manuscript for English language or grammar errors
• Include all of the “Items Required for Submission” below

Please note that Health Promotion Practice adheres to a rigorous double-anonymized review policy in which the identities of authors and reviewers are concealed from each other.  All information that identifies authors, institutions, or funding should be redacted or omitted from the manuscript submission.  If accepted for publication, appropriate identifying information will be restored.

Items Required for Submission

• Cover Letter: All submissions must include a cover letter specifying:
  • the manuscript category
  • specific contribution to advancing knowledge for practice
  • Institutional Review Board/Human Subjects approval or stated exemption
  • respective roles of each author
  • manuscript submission history (has it been submitted and declined publication elsewhere) and affirmation that it is not currently under consideration by another journal 
  • Contact information for the corresponding author

Please note: Manuscripts without a complete cover letter may be returned without review.

• Title Page, Acknowledgements, and Keywords: The title page should include the title of the manuscript; author names, degrees, and affiliations; and any acknowledgements, funding information, or conflict of interest statements that the authors wish to include with the manuscript. 

Keywords: Authors should suggest 6 – 10 keywords that will help the paper be discovered in online searches at the bottom of their title page.  The best keywords are closely aligned with the text and selected to attract readers and other authors searching for articles about a specific population, health issue, approach, method, theory or conceptual framework, or setting. During production, the keywords included on the title page are added to the final product. If keywords are not provided, ScholarOne automatically uses a set of keywords used internally to match reviewers to manuscripts.  This internal list is more general than the keywords that will help potential users discover the paper in their own online searches. Authors are encouraged to pay careful attention to the selection of current and relevant keywords.        

The title page must also include one line bios for all authors:

Example:   Dr. Jordan A. Public, Ph.D., is Director of Health Education at Public Health University in Anytown, State, Country

• Abstract (250 words or less): The narrative abstract should read as a standalone document and reflect the full text of the manuscript. A summary of the key results that indicate implications for practice and/or policy and research must be included.
• Text: Headings should be used to delineate the key sections of the manuscript. For research-based articles, this may include Background, Purpose or Aims, Methods, Results, Discussion (including Limitations) and the required Implications for Practice and/or Policy and Research.  Department articles may be structured differently (see description in Article Formats above), however all submissions must clearly indicate implications for practice and, when appropriate, implications for policy and further research.
• References: All references should be formatted and cited in accordance with the APA Publication Manual (7th Edition).  Footnotes should be avoided.  For detailed information on how to format citations and references, please consult the APA Tutorial.           
• Tables, Figures, and Images: All tables, figures, and images should be labeled with explanatory captions in accordance with the style and format requirements of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th edition). This material must be editable and provided in PowerPoint, Excel, or Word formats. Tables, figures, and images should be placed at the end of the document immediately following the reference list or uploaded in separate document files. Placement notations should be made throughout the text (e.g., “Insert Figure 1 here”).  Please submit images exactly as you wish to see them when published. These files should be submitted in their original file format for best quality.

Tables, figures, and images should be well constructed, easy to comprehend, and avoid duplication of results presented in the text.  Excessively long tables should be considered for access in Supplemental Material, linked to the paper but leaving space for a shorter summary or key points table in the paper itself.

All tables, figures, and images should be able to be understood independently without requiring explanation from the text. Titles should be descriptive and follow APA format.

Illustrations, photographs, and grayscale images should be supplied in the highest quality original electronic format and in the size they will appear in the journal, or larger. Photos are best sent as originals or scanned in at the correct size and resolution (300 dpi). All files should follow the Sage artwork guidelines accessed at the Sage Manuscript Submission Guidelines.  All original photographs require signed releases from anyone appearing in the image.

Please note the respective limits on figures/tables/images/photographs for each article type. 

• Supplemental Material: Supplemental material (e.g., questionnaires, codebooks, campaign material) that the authors wish to share may be included as a separate file clearly identified with “online sup” in the file name.  If the manuscript is accepted for publication and the Editor-in-Chief approves, a link to the supplemental material will be embedded in the article during production.

Organization of the Submission

• Cover letter
• Title Page, including Acknowledgements and Keywords
• Abstract (250 words)
• Manuscript (double spaced, 12-point font, 1-inch margins, word count aligned with manuscript category)
• References (APA format, 7th ed.)
• Tables/figures/images (following the references or in a separate file, editable format, highest possible quality, releases if needed)
• Any supplemental material (uploaded in a separate file and clearly labeled “online sup” in the file name)

Presentation and Style of the Submission – Author Checklist

• Do your cover letter and introduction make clear how your manuscript aligns with the mission of HPP?
• Does your cover letter cover all of the required points?
• Have you selected keywords that will make your paper easily discoverable through online searches?
• Does your manuscript follow the HPP language and word choice guidelines?
• Does your manuscript clearly identify implications for practice and either policy or further research?
• Do your references comply with the APA Publication Manual (7th ed.) format?
• Have you noted where any tables or figures should be inserted within the text? i.e. “—insert Table 1 here—”
• Do all tables/figures/images have clear, explanatory titles?
• Have you redacted all identifying information for review purposes, such as identity of authors and funding

Manuscript Revisions

If invited to revise and resubmit your manuscript, please submit a clean copy with no editing marks and any track changes notations accepted.   The clean copy will be used for the next round of peer review, guided by your detailed “Response to Reviewers. ”  In addition to the revised manuscript, an organized and specific “Response to Reviewers” is critical to a focused and timely review. You may choose to enter your responses in the space provided with the online submission or attach your response in a separate document.  Many authors and reviewers find that a table or chart showing each comment and the specific response to that comment (quoting new language and specifying line and page numbers) is the best way to organize this important part of the review process.  Please make sure not to include any information that identifies the authors or participants in your response.

Please note that authors are not required to make all of the changes recommended by reviewers, but they are required to address each point in their response.

Copyright

A signed copy of the agreement transferring copyright from author to publisher is required upon manuscript acceptance. The corresponding author 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.  Authors will be directed to the appropriate form when the manuscript is accepted for publication, including instructions for obtaining signatures and submitting the completed form.

Pre-Publication Proofs 

Proofs of manuscripts accepted for publication will be supplied to the corresponding author prior to publication. That author has the responsibility to check the accuracy of typesetting and copyediting, including references, and to return corrected proofs within the specified time allowed (usually 5 business days).

OnlineFirst /Publish Ahead of Print

Health Promotion Practice uses OnlineFirst, a Sage Journals Online feature through which accepted articles are published online prior to their inclusion in a print issue (also referred to as “publishing ahead of print”). This feature offers you the advantage of making your research accessible to our readers and discoverable by the public in a timely manner.

During the production process each manuscript is assigned a Digital Object Identifier (DOI), a unique identification number similar to the ISBN assigned to book publications.  (You can find this number on the bottom left-hand corner of the first page of your proofs.)  While available through OnlineFirst, your manuscript should be cited using the DOI as follows:

Mata, H.  & Valerio-Shewmaker, M. Article title. Health Promotion Practice. Prepublished December 17, 2018, DOI: 10.1177/0123456789123456

After the article is assigned to a specific issue, new citations can be made using volume and page number information, while still using the DOI:

Mata, H. & Valerio, M.  Article title. Health Promotion Practice. 2019, 6: 211–217, DOI: 10.1177/0123456789123456

Post-Publication Article Access

The corresponding author will receive a link to a PDF of the article as it appears in the issue in which it will be published.  Corresponding authors are responsible for distributing the link to all co-authors.  The link is to be used in accordance with the specified instructions.  We ask that authors invite others to directly access their article through the HPP website.  When authors share pdfs rather than the article link, critical evaluative statistics will not accurately reflect the degree to which your article has been used.

Promoting Your Article

Once your article is in production, there are several things that we can do to make sure that your work is discovered, read, and used.

HPP on social media:  Authors are invited to provide information to support the paper, should it be published in HPP, when they submit the original manuscript.  A follow-up survey will be included with the acceptance letter.  The information authors provide is crucial for our social media and promotional planning, particularly on Twitter - @TheHPPJournal - and LinkedIn - @Health Promotion Practice Journal. 

The HPP Podcast: Prospective authors are invited to subscribe to The HPP Podcast on Spotify, Apple, Google or other podcast platforms. Engaging with the journal helps authors understand what’s new and trending at HPP, and shows you what we can do for your published paper!

Questions?

Please direct inquiries to:

Miranda Bohl, HPP Managing Editor
J&J Editorial
Email: HPP@jjeditorial.com