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Florida Public Health Review

Instructions for Authors

Submission Policies

Anyone may submit an original article to be considered for publication in Florida Public Health Review. The Florida Public Health Review also welcomes and encourages submissions from public health students. Upon submission, the author(s) agree to, and are in accordance with, the following terms and conditions:

  • the author(s) own the copyright to the article being submitted, or is authorized by the copyright owner to submit the article
  • submitted articles cannot have been previously published, nor be forthcoming in a journal or book (print or electronic)
  • submitted articles cannot be simultaneously under review at another journal (electronic or print) and, the author will not submit the material to another journal (electronic or print) until the completion of the editorial process
  • the author(s) attest that they have adhered to the ethical standards established by the Committee on Publication Ethics (www.publicationethics.org)
  • any human subject studies have been approved by the appropriate governing bodies in the country where the research was conducted, and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000 (5)
  • if applicable, all protected health information (PHI) should be removed from all manuscript documents, and authors should obtain informed consent. In instances in which informed consent was obtained by the author(s), the author(s) must indicate so in their manuscript
  • any animal subject studies have been conducted in accordance with their institutional and national guidelines for care and use of laboratory animals, and have been approved by the appropriate governing bodies
  • the author(s) have disclosed any and all relationships that could pose a potential conflict of interest
  • the author(s) have significantly contributed to the manuscript, including conceptualization and design of the study, data collection, data analysis and/or interpretation, have written or revised the article and read and approved the final version of the manuscript

Manuscript Preparation

Florida Public Health Review has no specific rules about the formatting of articles upon initial submission.

  • No cover letter is required for submission.
  • Submit a title page as a separate file, including the following: all author names and affiliations, highest degree earned for all authors; corresponding author information, including name, full address, telephone number, and e-mail; word count, number of tables, and number of figures.
  • Documents should be submitted as a Microsoft Word (.doc, .docx) file only. Manuscripts should include the abstract, main text, acknowledgements, references, tables and figures in one document.

The following article types are accepted for review. The author(s) should follow the general formatting as detailed below.

Original Research

The Florida Public Health Review invites manuscripts reporting original research topics of interest to public health practitioners and academicians in universities and other research settings, health departments and community agencies, federal and state agencies, health care settings, worksites, schools and other venues. Original research manuscripts must include these headings: Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion and Implications for Public Health Practice. Manuscripts should not exceed 3,000 words (not including abstract, tables, figures, and references). Preference is given to papers that have particular relevance for public health practice in Florida.

The abstract should be no more than 300 words, and structured into the following sections: Background, Purpose, Methods, Results, and Discussion

Systematic Review Article (without meta-analysis)

A systematic review article requires the author to complete a systematic search of all available literature covering a specific topic. Reviews should encompass multiple databases over many years (at least 5 years prior to the date of search). Systematic reviews should focus on a specific question or issue pertaining to the field of public health. Systematic review articles should be no more than 3,500 words (not including abstract, tables, figures, and references) , and the manuscript should include the following divisions: Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, and a brief Conclusion. Titles should include the phrase “A Systematic Review” at the end.

The abstract should be no more than 300 words, and structured into the following sections: Background, Purpose, Methods, Results, and Discussion

Systematic Review (with meta-analysis)

Systematic reviews with meta-analysis follow the same guidelines as a systematic review without meta-analysis, however strict inclusion and exclusion criteria should be included. The selection process and the criteria for inclusion should be described in the methods sections.

The abstract should be no more than 300 words, and structured into the following sections: Background, Purpose, Methods, Results, and Discussion

Brief

Briefs are short reports of original research. They should be no more than 1,500 words, excluding tables, figures, and references. Abstracts are not required for briefs, however all other formatting requirements should be followed. Briefs should include no more than 2 tables/figures, and no more than 10 references.

Commentary

Commentaries are learned opinions that provide a critical viewpoint on a contemporary issue in public health research, theory, philosophy, pedagogy, professional preparation or practice. Commentaries should be no more than 1,500 words, not including references. Commentaries should follow all formatting requirements, however no abstract is required. Commentaries should include the following divisions: Introduction, Discussion, and Conclusion. Commentary titles should include the phrase “A Commentary” at the end.

Manuscript Review Process

Upon submission, all articles are screened by the Editors for adherence to journal scope. Manuscripts that do not fit the scope of the Florida Public Health Review will be returned to the author within 10 business days.

After in-house editorial review, the article will be sent for external double-blind peer review by at least two reviewers. External review time is approximately six to eight weeks. After external review, the author(s) will be notified of the decision.

Plagiarism Policy

Before publication, all manuscripts will be screened for plagiarism using Turn It In software. Any manuscripts that are found to be plagiarized will be returned to the author(s) and will not be considered for publication.

After Acceptance

As of June 2019, the Florida Public Health Review has transitioned to the University of North Florida. Since this transition, the editors require that the author(s) format references and citations using the American Medical Association Manual of Style Tenth Edition citation guidelines after the article has been approved for publication and the authors have made all necessary revisions.

Upon acceptance, the Florida Public Health Review requires a publishing fee of $150.00 to be paid by either the author(s) or on their behalf (for instance, by their research funder or institution) within 30 calendar days.

Rights for Authors and UNF Digital Commons

As further described in our submission agreement (the Submission Agreement), in consideration for publication of the article, the authors assign to UNF Digital Commons all copyright in the article, subject to the expansive personal--use exceptions described below.

Terms of Use and Reuse

All users may freely use, reuse, and build upon the material published by Florida Public Health Review, but not if intended for commercial purposes

Please Note: Articles published prior to August 2019 erroneously contained the statement "all rights reserved." Readers do have the right to use all papers published by FPHR in any lawful way for non-commercial purposes.

Attribution and Usage Policies

Reproduction, posting, transmission or other distribution or use of the article or any material therein, in any medium as permitted by the terms of use stated on this site, by a personal-use exemption or by written agreement of UNF Digital Commons, requires credit to UNF Digital Commons as copyright holder (e.g., UNF Digital Commons © 2023).

Users have the right to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of articles in this journal, and to use them for any other lawful purpose.

Personal-use Exceptions

In addition to the rights given to all users, the following uses are always permitted to the author(s) and do not require further permission from UNF Digital Commons provided the author does not alter the format or content of the articles, including the copyright notification:

  • Storage and back-up of the article on the author's computer(s) and digital media (e.g., diskettes, back-up servers, Zip disks, etc.)
  • Posting of the article on the author(s) personal website, provided that the website is non-commercial;
  • Posting of the article on the internet as part of a non-commercial open access institutional repository or other non-commercial open access publication site affiliated with the author(s)'s place of employment (e.g., a Phrenology professor at the University of Southern North Dakota can have her article appear in the University of Southern North Dakota's Department of Phrenology online publication series); and
  • Posting of the article on a non-commercial course website for a course being taught by the author at the university or college employing the author.

General Terms and Conditions of Use

Users of the UNF Digital Commons website and/or software agree not to misuse the UNF Digital Commons service or software in any way.

The failure of UNF Digital Commons to exercise or enforce any right or provision in the policies or the Submission Agreement does not constitute a waiver of such right or provision. If any term of the Submission Agreement or these policies is found to be invalid, the parties nevertheless agree that the court should endeavor to give effect to the parties' intentions as reflected in the provision, and the other provisions of the Submission Agreement and these policies remain in full force and effect. These policies and the Submission Agreement constitute the entire agreement between UNF Digital Commons and the Author(s) regarding submission of the Article.