Instructions for Authors
Submission Guidelines
Paediatrics & Child Health conforms to the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals. The journal uses ScholarOne Manuscripts for peer review of submissions. Manuscripts that contain plagiarized material will be immediately rejected.
Articles may be submitted in English or French. If neither is an author’s first language, it is highly recommended that prior to submission, the manuscript be read by someone with excellent written English or French skills; even non-medical readers can often markedly improve a manuscript if they are articulate.
Submitted articles are initially reviewed by the editor-in-chief and/or by senior editors to assess whether the subject matter and general content are appropriate for Paediatrics & Child Health.
Articles that are sent for peer review generally meet all of the following three criteria:
- Of interest to a significant number of general paediatricians and family physicians who care for children and youth in Canada.
- Adds something new to the literature or presents information in a novel format appealing to our readers.
- Contains at least one new practical take-home point for a general paediatrician or a family physician who cares for children.
Articles that meet these criteria are peer reviewed using a single-blind process. If needed, articles may be sent for statistical review. If an author is ultimately invited to resubmit a revised version of their manuscript, s/he is expected to respond to each comment made by the reviewers and editor and to indicate changes to the manuscript using tracked changes. For rejected manuscripts, the author can seek an appeal; the appeal process is detailed here.
Before you start
Conflict of interest and financial disclosure
How to prepare your submission
Cover Letter
Title Page
Abstract
Keywords
Manuscript
Tables/Figures/Photographs
Availability of Data and Materials
Preprint Policy
Acknowledgements
References
Patient consent
Previously published material
Submission
Open Access
Before you start
Prior to submission, authors can email Editor-in-Chief Dr. Joan Robinson at journal@cps.ca to ask if their research question is suitable for the journal audience. Please include an abstract if possible. Keep in mind that Paediatrics & Child Health primarily publishes manuscripts that may change clinical practice.
Review the types of manuscripts that Paediatrics & Child Health publishes.
Consult the journal’s editorial policies, particularly those on ethics board approval, conflicts of interest, and informed consent. To ensure equity, fairness, and inclusion, authors should use inclusive language in their writing.
Where practical, your manuscript should follow the appropriate reporting guidelines on the EQUATOR website, and you should submit the appropriate checklist from that website to demonstrate that you followed the guidelines. Exceptions include review articles and Clinician’s Corner, for which there are currently no appropriate guidelines on the EQUATOR website.
Manuscripts are received with the understanding that they are submitted solely to Paediatrics & Child Health, and that none of the material in the manuscript has been published previously or is under consideration for publication elsewhere, with the exception of previously published abstracts.
Accepted manuscripts are sent to the publisher for copyediting. The publisher will ask the corresponding author to complete a license to publish online. A PDF version of the license can be obtained from the production editor. Page proofs are sent to the corresponding author within two weeks of receipt. To avoid delays in publication, authors should return proofs within 2 working days, preferably via the online proofing portal or via e-mail, if necessary. The publisher will provide detailed instructions.
All articles are submitted to PubMed Central 12 months after publication in an issue of Paediatrics & Child Health.
Conflict of interest and financial disclosure
Conflict of interest for authors is defined as any financial relationship that relates in any way to the content of the manuscript.
Include all conflicts of interest on the title page. Err on the side of over-disclosure. It is very rare that a manuscript would be rejected because of an identified conflict of interest, but your manuscript is likely to be rejected if we uncover an undisclosed conflict of interest. Our goal is to be aware of any conflicts to ensure there is no bias in the methodology or in the discussion of the results. If none of the authors has a relevant conflict of interest, include a statement confirming that there are none.
Once an article is likely to be accepted, manuscript authors will be required to complete an ICJME Conflict of Interest form prior to publication. These forms are available via the ICJME website, or are available on request from the journal editorial office. Again, err on the side of over-disclosure, including any conflicts that have arisen since the original cover letter was submitted.
See editorial policies for more information.
How to prepare your submission
- Font type and size – Use only Arial, Courier, Symbol or Times. The use of non-standard fonts may lead to missing symbols. The font size should be 12 point (10 point or 12 point is acceptable in tables).
- Page numbering – Number the pages consecutively, beginning with the title page as 1.
- Abbreviations – Must be defined at first mention in the text.
- Measurements – Use SI units only.
- Each manuscript type has a specific order. Consult What does Paediatrics & Child Health publish? for details.
Cover Letter
The cover letter should point out the novel features of your manuscript.
If there are multiple authors, identify the author responsible for all correspondence and page proofs. For the corresponding author, include contact address, telephone and fax numbers and an e-mail address.
Confirm that the manuscript is not being considered for publication elsewhere. If any portion of the manuscript was previously published, please provide details in the letter.
Title Page
A statement concerning conflicts of interest must also be included on the title page. See Conflict of interest and financial disclosure above for information on what details to include.
Provide a descriptive title for the manuscript. Consider using suggestions from the EQUATOR website on choosing a title to provide potential readers with optimal information about the manuscript. We encourage interesting or provocative titles where appropriate.
List the names of all authors (including full, first or middle names) along with qualifications (e.g. MD, PhD, RN) and institutions. Identify the author responsible for correspondence. Provide the source of funding.
Include a statement outlining conflicts of interest for all authors.
Abstract
Original articles must include a structured abstract (ie., objectives, methods, results and conclusions) of maximum 250 words. The abstract should provide actual data unless there are none. Other article types should include an unstructured abstract (maximum 150 words). Only standard units of measurement should be abbreviated—no acronyms please. Everything mentioned in the abstract should also be mentioned in the manuscript.
Keywords
Submitting authors will be asked to select the area of specialization for their manuscript and include 3 to 6 key words. Keywords should preferably be MESH terms.
Manuscript
The preferred order for original articles is Introduction, Methods, Results and Discussion. We will consider other formats if it leads to a clearer or more concise article. Use simple language and use the same terms throughout the paper. Use sub-headings if they increase clarity. Methods must be provided in sufficient detail that others could repeat your study. Provide the name of the ethics board that approved the study and the number of the ethics approval if applicable. Avoid repeating items from the Introduction in the Discussion. It is preferred the conclusion be mentioned in the final paragraph rather than in a separate section.
Tables/Figures/Photographs
Colour Charges: The Journal charges $600 (USD) per colour image in the print edition of the journal. Images publishes in colour in the digital edition of the journal are free of charge. The price is exclusive of value added tax, goods and services tax, and any similar sales or excise taxes. Any applicable taxes will be added to the invoiced charge at the prevailing rate. Colour charges can be avoided by submitting grayscale images for print along with full colour images for the online version. You must pay any applicable colour charges through the Journals Licencing and Online Payments portal when production of your manuscript is complete.
Cite using Arabic numerals in the order mentioned in the text. Tables can be included in the manuscript itself but submit figures as separate files.
Tables: Each table should be on a separate page from the rest of the text with the table number above and explanatory notes below. The legend should provide sufficient information that the table is useful as a stand-alone resource. Abbreviations in alphabetical order must be included as a footnote.
Figures: Each figure should be submitted in its original format. Figure lettering, decimals, lines and other details must be sufficiently large to withstand reduction and reproduction. Type the legend below the figure; provide sufficient information to allow preliminary interpretation of the figure without reference to the text. Abbreviations in alphabetical order must be included as a footnote.
Graphs: Graphs must be created using Microsoft Word (.doc), Microsoft PowerPoint (.ppt), Microsoft Excel (.xls) or Adobe Illustrator (.ai or .eps).
Photographs: Any photographs imported into your figure must be scanned at a resolution of no less than 360 dpi and saved as a .tiff file. Place crop marks on photomicrographs to show the essential field and designate special features with arrows (which must contrast with the background). Please consult our policies for information regarding informed consent for photographs of people.
Figure accessibility and alt text
Incorporating alt text (alternative text) when submitting your paper helps to foster inclusivity and accessibility. Good alt text ensures that individuals with visual impairments or those using screen readers can comprehend the content and context of your figures. The aim of alt text is to provide concise and informative descriptions of your figure so that all readers have access to the same level of information and understanding, and that all can engage with and benefit from the visual elements integral to scholarly content. Including alt text demonstrates a commitment to accessibility and enhances the overall impact and reach of your work.
Alt text is applicable to all images, figures, illustrations, and photographs.
Alt text is only accessible via e-reader and so it won’t appear as part of the typeset article.
Detailed guidance on how to draft and submit alt text.
Availability of Data and Materials
Where ethically feasible, Paediatrics & Child Health strongly encourages authors to make all data and software code on which the conclusions of the paper rely available to readers. We suggest that data be presented in the main manuscript or additional supporting files, or deposited in a public repository whenever possible. For information on general repositories for all data types, and a list of recommended repositories by subject area, please see Choosing where to archive your data.
Data Citation
Paediatrics & Child Health supports the Force 11 Data Citation Principles and requires that all publicly available datasets be fully referenced in the reference list with an accession number or unique identifier such as a digital object identifier (DOI). Data citations should include the minimum information recommended by DataCite:
[dataset]* Authors, Year, Title, Publisher (repository or archive name), Identifier
*The inclusion of the [dataset] tag at the beginning of the citation helps us to correctly identify and tag the citation. This tag will be removed from the citation published in the reference list.
Preprint policy
Authors retain the right to make an Author’s Original Version (preprint) available through various channels, and this does not prevent submission to the journal. For further information see our Online Licensing, Copyright and Permissions policies. If accepted, the authors are required to update the status of any preprint, including your published paper’s DOI, as described on our Author Self-Archiving policy page.
Acknowledgements
Brief acknowledgements may appear at the end of the text, before the references.
References
Our preference is that you follow the style of the National Library of Medicine (NLM on Endnote). Each reference is numbered consecutively in the order it is cited in the text, using Arabic numerals in parentheses on the line without superscript.
For the original submission, however, references may be submitted in any standard format. If the manuscript is eventually accepted, the editorial office may request that references be re-formatted in the journal style.
Personal communications, manuscripts in preparation and other unpublished data should not be cited in the reference list but may be mentioned in the text in parentheses. Identify abstracts with the abbreviation ‘Abst’ and letters to the editor by ‘Lett’ in parentheses; abstracts should not be cited if the data have been published and a full article could be cited.
Patient consent
Corresponding authors must verify that they obtained informed consent from the patient or parent if a potentially identifiable case description or photograph is used. When describing individual patient encounters and including photos and/or other information that could reveal the identity of a patient, the author(s) must confirm informed consent has been obtained and must include a statement verifying that informed consent was obtained in the manuscript. Please note that for all A Picture Says a Thousand Words and Clinician’s Corner submissions, confirmation of informed consent is always required.
Previously published material
If your manuscript contains any previously published material (such as tables or figures or case reports), you must mention this in the Cover Letter. If the manuscript is accepted, you will be asked to obtain permission for PCH to re-publish this material.
Submission
The corresponding author will receive an email notification confirming that the manuscript was successfully submitted. If the manuscript meets the criteria, the peer review process will commence.
Open Access
Paediatrics & Child Health offers the option of publishing under either a standard licence or an open access licence. Please note that some funders require open access publication as a condition of funding. If you are unsure whether you are required to publish open access, please do clarify any such requirements with your funder or institution.
Should you wish to publish your article open access, you should select your choice of open access licence in our online system after your article has been accepted for publication. You will need to pay an open access charge to publish under an open access licence.
Details of the open access licences and open access charges.
OUP has a growing number of Read and Publish agreements with institutions and consortia which provide funding for open access publishing. This means authors from participating institutions can publish open access, and the institution may pay the charge. Find out if your institution is participating.
