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Journal for Healthcare Quality
Online Submission and Review System
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The Journal for Healthcare Quality (JHQ) welcomes impactful papers, focused on healthcare quality from all healthcare sectors, that support the Journal's mission to advance the art and science of healthcare quality. The Journal prioritizes for acceptance scholarly articles that are targeted to leaders of all healthcare settings, leveraging applied research, and producing practical, timely and impactful evidence in healthcare system transformation. Accepted manuscripts are published after peer review. Topics of interest include all subjects that relate to improvement of healthcare quality and the betterment of healthcare in the U.S. and worldwide. JHQ considers original research articles, review articles, and reports on focused improvement efforts. Potential topic areas of healthcare quality focus include, but are not limited to:
- Quality Leadership and Integration
- Performance and Process Improvement
- Patient Safety
- Care Delivery Innovations
- Health Data and Analytics
- Population Health and Care Transitions
- Healthcare Research and Translational Research Focused on Improving Care Delivery
- Public Policy and Government Affairs
Established in 1979, JHQ is the official journal of the National Association for Healthcare Quality (NAHQ). Its audience is professionals dedicated to promoting healthcare treatment and services that are safe, effective, patient-centered, timely, efficient, equitable, and evidence-based across the continuum of care. The Journal publishes articles in print and electronic formats. Authors are also given the opportunity to publish their work online only.
Copyright
Each author must complete and submit the journal's copyright transfer agreement, which includes a section on the disclosure of potential conflicts of interest based on the recommendations of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, "Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals" (www.icmje.org/update.html).
A copy of the form is made available to the submitting author within the Editorial Manager manuscript submission process. Co-authors will automatically receive an Email with instructions on completing the form upon submission.
Conflicts of Interest
Authors must state all possible conflicts of interest in the manuscript, including financial, consultant, institutional and other relationships that might lead to bias or a conflict of interest. If there is no conflict of interest, this should also be explicitly stated as none declared. All sources of funding should be acknowledged on the title page file. All relevant conflicts of interest and sources of funding should be included on the title page file with the heading "Conflicts of Interest and Source of Funding." For example:
Conflicts of Interest and Source of Funding: A has received honoraria from Company Z. B is currently receiving a grant (#12345) from Organization Y, and is on the speaker's bureau for Organization X – the CME organizers for Company A. For the remaining authors none were declared.
Manuscript Submission
All manuscripts must be submitted online via Editorial Manager at https://preflight.paperpal.com/partner/wolterskluwer/HQ/submit.
Manuscript Check: Prior to submitting, we recommend that you run your manuscript through the Paperpal Preflight service, which instantly checks your manuscript and helps you address the most common errors and omissions.
Check your Manuscript in Paperpal Preflight
First-time users: Please click the Register button on the Editorial Manager home page (http://www.editorialmanager.com/jhq). Enter the requested information to complete your registration. Upon successful registration, an e-mail containing your user name and password will be sent to you. Please be sure to enter your e-mail address correctly; if an error has been made or an incorrect e-mail address has been provided, you will not receive this notification.
Note: If you have already received an e-mail containing your User ID and password, or if you are already registered, do not register again. You may log in to the site using the information previously provided to you. You may access your Author, Reviewer, or Editor accounts with the same log-in information.
Authors: Click the log-in button on the Editorial Manager home page, enter your username and password, and click on Author Login. Click on the Submit Manuscript link to begin the submission process. Be sure to prepare your manuscript according to the requirements laid out in these author instructions. Following submission to the journal office, you will be able to track the progress of your manuscript through the system.
For queries about submitting manuscripts, please contact the JHQ office at [email protected].
Manuscript Format
The Journal follows formatting standards as identified in the latest edition of the AMA Manual of Style of the American Medical Association (AMA). Formats for feature articles are as follows:
Original Articles
Submissions of original articles should be 1,500-3,000 words (6-12 double-spaced pages) and typed double-spaced, with 1-in. (2.54-cm) margins on all sides using 12-point fonts (Arial or Times New Roman). Pages must be numbered consecutively, beginning with the title page. Because the review is a blind process, do not include the authors' names on manuscript pages or in running headers or footers. Please be sure to only include the authors' names and information in a separate title page document file. Additionally, please do not blind institution and location names using replacement text and instead refer to any institutions as "our institution" or "an area hospital", etc. Replacement text includes (but is not limited to) "redacted for peer review", Hospital X, and [Organization 1].
Authorship
Only individuals who have contributed substantially to the conception, formulation, drafting, and revision of the submission should take public responsibility for its content and be listed as authors; other contributors (those who may have provided technical assistance or writing advice, for example) can be mentioned in an acknowledgment section on the title page file. In addition, all authors should have participated in the submission's final approval.
JHQ does not consider Artificial Intelligence authoring tools to meet the requirements for Authorship as recommended by the ICMJE. The use of such tools may be included in the article's Acknowledgements.
Title
The title should be no longer than 12 to 15 words. The title should compel any professional to want to read the entire submission and should describe the main point of the article.
Abstract
Authors should provide a paragraph of 200 words or fewer that summarizes the article and contains its essential elements. The abstract appears at the beginning of the article and should contain no bullets, references, tables, or figures. The abstract should provide a brief comprehensive summary that addresses background of the topic, purpose of the submission, its importance and relevance to healthcare quality, methods, results, and conclusions/implications related to the work.
Keywords
Authors should provide 3–5 keywords or short phrases that will assist indexers in cross-indexing the article and that will be published with the abstract.
Biographical Sketch
A brief biographical sketch (2–3 sentences) must be provided for each author and should include a summary of the author's credentials, title, affiliation, city and state, and current roles and accountabilities. Please do not submit résumés, curricula vitae, or lists of job titles. All biographical sketches should be included on the title page with the heading "Biographical Sketches."
JHQ Editorial Content Recommendations
Manuscripts submitted to JHQ should follow the JHQ recommended format to include material under the following headings:
- Title
- Abstract
- Introduction
- Methods
- Results
- Limitations
- Discussion
- Conclusions
- Implications
For additional information on the JHQ format, please review the following author formatting guide:
To assist in the preparation of a suitably formatted manuscript that minimizes the manuscript will be returned for corrections, we offer the following Top Reasons Papers Are Sent Back for Corrections:
| Top Reasons Manuscripts Are Sent Back for Corrections | • Missing Biographical Sketch for each author on the title page |
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| • Title exceeds word count limit |
| • Manuscript exceeds word count limit |
| • Insufficient blinding of manuscript |
| • Incorrect primary headings |
Institutional Review Board Approval
If research was conducted involving human subjects, a statement is required indicating that an institutional review board (IRB) approved the study. Please provide the IRB number. If IRB approval was not obtained, an explanation must be provided or a discussion of waiver presented.
Graphics
JHQ welcomes the inclusion of tables and figures, which have been prepared following AMA Manual of Style guidelines. Tables and figures should not be embedded in the manuscript narrative, instead name and upload each figure to Editorial Manager in conjunction with your manuscript text and tables. As a general rule, a manuscript submission should have a maximum of four tables or figures. Be sure that the graphics are relevant and help to clarify the article's major points. If you are using a form from an organization or agency, be sure that the organization is identified, that permission for use has been obtained from the organization, and that the form is introduced and explained in the text.
If a graphic is not original and presents information from another source, give full credit to the original source (i.e., list the name of the source and the publication, the publication's volume and date, and the source's page number). Authors are responsible for obtaining reprint permission for using copyrighted material from another source. When submitting the manuscript, be sure to provide written permission from the source for JHQ to reprint the graphic.
Here are the basics to have in place before submitting your digital art to JHQ:
- Artwork should be saved as TIFF, PDF, Word Doc, PPT, or EPS files.
- Artwork is created as the actual size (or slightly larger) it will appear in the journal. (To get an idea of the size images should be when they print, study a copy of the journal to which you wish to submit. Measure the artwork typically shown and scale your image to match.)
- Crop out any white or black space surrounding the image.
- Diagrams, drawings, graphs, and other line art must be vector or saved at a resolution of at least 1200 dpi. If the art is created in an MS Office program, convert to a hi-res PDF. If the PDF creation process is unfamiliar then submit the MS Office doc.
- Photographs, radiographs and other halftone images must be saved at a resolution of at least 300 dpi.
- Photographs and radiographs with text must be saved as postscript or at a resolution of at least 600 dpi.
- Each figure must be saved and submitted as a separate file. Figures should not be embedded in the manuscript text file.
Remember:
- Cite figures consecutively in your manuscript.
- Number figures in the figure legend in the order in which they are discussed.
- Upload figures consecutively to the Editorial Manager web site and number figures consecutively in the Description box during upload.
References
The style of references is dictated by the latest Manual of Style edition of the American Medical Association. References should be cited and numbered consecutively by means of Arabic numerals in the order they are cited in the text. Superscripts of Arabic numbers are used in the manuscript narrative and are placed outside periods and commas, inside colons and semicolons. When more than two references are cited at a given place, authors use a hyphen to join the first and last numbers to close the citation series. All references cited in the text must be included in the reference list at the end of the manuscript, and every reference in the list must be cited in the text. The reference list should be double-spaced and in sequential order of citations as numbered within the text. The references must be verified by the author(s) against the original documents. In summary, the author(s) should ensure that references are:
- Current (generally not older than 5 years), though citations of classic works in the literature on quality may also be included.
- Appropriate to the concepts, interpretations, or conclusions being presented.
- Complete (see the latest edition of the AMA Manual of Style).
Examples of Reference Citations Using AMA Style
Standard journal article
Use journal abbreviations provided in AMA Manual of Style or go to http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?db=journals and type in the journal's full title.
Roberts SR, Crigler J, Ramirez C, Sisco D, Early GL. Working with socially and medically complex patients: When care transitions are circular, overlapping, and continual rather than linear and finite. J for Healthcare Qual. 2015; 37(4): 245-265
Book or monograph
Pelletier LR, Beaudin CL. HQ Solutions; Resource for the Healthcare Quality Professional, 4th ed. Glenview: National Association of Healthcare Quality; 2018.
Book chapter
White, SV. Performance and Process Improvement. In HQ Solutions; Resource for the Healthcare Quality Professional, 4th ed. Glenview: National Association of Healthcare Quality; 2018.
Online journal article
Joost WW, Rhodes, A, Cheng, AC, Peacock, SJ, Prescott, HC. Pathophysiology, Transmission, Diagnosis, and Treatment of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19): A Review. JAMA. 2020: E1-E13. doi: 10.1001/jama.2020.12839
Online information (include retrieval date)
Cite the author (if given), title of item cited (if none given, use the organization name), name of the Web site, URL, published date (if given), updated date (if given) and accessed date.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The core elements of antibiotic stewardship for nursing homes. Available at: http://www.cdc.gov/longtermcare/prevention/antibiotic-stewardship.html. Accessed July 13, 2020.
Technical or research report
Results from the 2012 National Survey on Drug Use and Health: Summary of National Findings. Rockville, Md: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration; 2013. HHS Publication No. SMA-13-4795.
Editorial Policies
Editing
JHQ reserves the right to edit all submissions according to style and space requirements, to clarify content, and to meet standards of language use. Journal articles express the authors' views and are not necessarily the policy of NAHQ or the editors of the journal.
Publication
Publication and publication dates are not guaranteed. Authors will be notified of the disposition of their manuscripts. If a manuscript is accepted for publication, authors will have the opportunity to review and amend a PDF proof of their article prior to publication.
Compliance
The author or submitting agent is responsible for compliance with all journal policies, including identification of a corresponding author, declaration of all sources of research funding and support, and documentation of all appropriate permissions.
Copyright Policy
Copyright on all published articles will be held by NAHQ. Each contributing author of a submitted manuscript must sign a statement expressly transferring copyright if the article is published. Copyright assignment is a condition of publication, and manuscripts will not be passed to the publisher for production unless copyright has been assigned.
Grant Funding and In-Kind Support
The author should indicate on the title page file any public (e.g., Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality) or private (e.g., foundation or pharmaceutical company) funding for the reported research or improvement activity. Any additional funding (monetary or in-kind support or provision of equipment) related to the research or improvement activity or preparation of the manuscript should also be acknowledged. The author should also disclose any financial stake in the funding agency or any product mentioned in the manuscript.
Open access
Authors of accepted peer-reviewed articles have the choice to pay a fee to allow perpetual unrestricted online access to their published article to readers globally, immediately upon publication. Authors may take advantage of the open access option at the point of submission. Please note that this choice has no influence on the peer review and acceptance process. These articles are subject to the journal's standard peer-review process and will be accepted or rejected based on their own merit.
The article processing charge (APC) is charged on acceptance of the article and should be paid within 30 days by the author, funding agency or institution. Payment must be processed for the article to be published open access. For a list of journals and pricing please visit our Wolters Kluwer Hybrid Open Access Journals page.
Authors retain copyright
Authors retain their copyright for all articles they opt to publish open access. Authors grant Wolters Kluwer an exclusive license to publish the article and the article is made available under the terms of a Creative Commons user license. Please visit our Open Access Publication Process page for more information.
Creative Commons license
Open access articles are freely available to read, download and share from the time of publication under the terms of the Creative Commons License Attribution-Non Commercial No Derivative (CC BY-NC-ND) license. This license does not permit reuse for any commercial purposes, nor does it cover the reuse or modification of individual elements of the work (such as figures, tables, etc.) in the creation of derivative works without specific permission.
Compliance with funder mandated open access policies
An author whose work is funded by an organization that mandates the use of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license is able to meet that requirement through the available open access license for approved funders. Information about the approved funders can be found here.
Read and Publish Agreements
Wolters Kluwer currently has read-and-publish agreements with institutional consortia listed here.
Corresponding authors who are affiliated with the participating institution and who qualify as eligible authors* can publish their eligible articles open access in the eligible LWW journals at no direct cost to them. Please see your institution’s individual policy for guidance on eligible article types and license choice. To qualify for the APC waiver, the corresponding author must provide their participating institution’s name and institutional email address in the journal’s submission system. On acceptance, the corresponding author will be asked to place an open access order in the publisher’s payment portal where they will be able to request the APC be funded in accordance with this agreement. A $0.00 APC will then be applied.
*Eligible authors: Corresponding authors who are teaching and research staff employed by or otherwise accredited to one of the participating institutions as well as students enrolled or accredited to one of the institutions and who want to publish open access articles.
Compliance with National Institutes of Health Accessibility Requirements
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) requires authors to submit the “post-print” (the final manuscript, in Word format, after peer-review and acceptance for publication but prior to the publisher’s copyediting, design, formatting, and other services) of research the NIH funds to a repository that is accessible online by all without charge. As a service to our authors, LWW will identify to the National Library of Medicine (NLM) articles that require deposit and will transmit the post-print of an article based on research funded in whole or in part by the NIH to PubMed Central.
FAQ for open access
https://www.wolterskluwer.com/en/solutions/lippincott-journals/lippincott-open-access/faq
Peer Review Process
Submissions are carefully screened for professional, accurate, and timely content. Manuscript evaluation is conducted through a blind review process and is completed by the JHQ editor, members of the editorial board, and reviewers who are experts in the particular area of healthcare quality addressed in the manuscript. The review process for submissions usually takes 2–4 months, during which time the submission is evaluated for appropriateness, originality, clarity, the timeliness of the subject matter, and contribution to the art and science of healthcare quality.
Manuscripts involving original research (including manuscripts that describe improvements achieved through the application of a process improvement model) are also reviewed for the merit and rigor of their methodology and the significance of the findings. The editor in chief makes the final publication decision. The decision may be that the manuscript is accepted, that the manuscript should be resubmitted with major revisions, that the manuscript should be resubmitted with minor revisions, or that the manuscript is not accepted. The editor in chief or associate editor usually sends reviewers' comments to the author for consideration in revising the manuscript for resubmission. Authors submitting a revised manuscript should respond to all the comments received.
JHQ does not allow for authors to submit a rejection appeal to the Editorial Office. JHQ maintains and stands by all editorial decisions and considers the editor decisions final.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: By serving as a peer reviewer for Journal for Healthcare Quality (JHQ), you agree that neither the names of any reviewer(s) of a manuscript nor any written review(s) of a manuscript considered for publication in JHQ is to be revealed in any medium at any time either before, during, or after the editor's disposition, and whether or not the manuscript itself is ever published. JHQ publishes an annual acknowledgment list of reviewers that may be used for verification of your reviewer contributions, but at no time should you publicly associate yourself with a specific manuscript.
Language and Editing Services
Wolters Kluwer, in partnership with Editage, offers a unique range of editorial services to help you prepare a submission-ready manuscript:
- Premium Editing: Intensive language and structural editing of academic papers to increase chances of journal acceptance.
- Advanced Editing: A complete language, grammar, and terminology check to give you a publication-ready manuscript.
- Translation with Editing: Write your paper in your native language and Wolters Kluwer Author Services will translate it into English, as well as edit it to ensure that it meets international publication standards.
- Plagiarism Check: Helps ensure that your manuscript contains no instances of unintentional plagiarism.
- Artwork Preparation: Save precious time and effort by ensuring that your artwork is viewed favorably by the journal without you having to incur the additional cost of purchasing special graphics software.
Continuing Education Credits
By publishing their manuscripts in JHQ, healthcare quality professionals can earn continuing education (CE) credits required to maintain the Certified Professional in Healthcare Quality (CPHQ) designation. Authors can earn up to 4 hours of CE credit toward CPHQ recertification for each page published in JHQ. 1 CPHQ credit = 60 minutes of work on an article. At least one CE article is available in each issue of JHQ. Readers can complete an online exam on the NAHQ website (http://www.nahq.org/education/content/jhq-ce.html) to receive CE credit for each CE article.
Updated July 15, 2020
