Vision:.To be a journal of choice for cutting-edge research, aligning practice with evidence in strengthening primary healthcare practice for lasting health change in Africa. Aim: The PHCP Journal was created to To provide a thoughtful forum for publishing high-quality, peer-reviewed manuscripts on contemporary multidisciplinary issues and challenges affecting primary healthcare research, policy, and practice on the Africa continent. Scope: We publish original scientific and best-practice research on public health, medical sciences, social, economic, and all other factors affecting primary health care practice in Africa.
PHCP Journal is an online open access peer-reviewed journal focusing on primary care practice in the developing World. Only articles submitted in the categories accepted by the journal will be considered.
Prior to submit your first article, you should apply for a user name and password. PHCP Journal offers a user friendly process for online submission through the One Manuscript Hut ™.
Short reports will include case report, commentary, conference proceedings, editorials, viewpoints, and letter to the editors. Short Communications should be no longer than 1500 words. They must have an abstract and references, but the main body of the text does not have to follow the original research´s format. We give privilege to invited reviews and encourage prospective authors of systematic reviews to discuss the project with the editorial office before development.
Manuscripts will be initially screened by an editor for adherence to the journal´s instructions or identification of gross deficiencies. At this stage, the corresponding author can be contacted by the editorial office for clarification or the manuscript can be rejected. Once this initial screening is completed, manuscripts are sent to two-three referees; if appropriate, a statistical reviewer is involved. On average, we will report back to authors within 6 weeks with a first decision. Authors should however note that the average duration from submission to publication is roughly 3 months (1 - 6 months). We encourage authors not to contact the editorial office less than 6 weeks after the initial submission. We discourage and will ignore requests by authors to speed up the publication process for a particular manuscript.
Manuscripts must be submitted by one of the authors of the manuscript, and should not be submitted by anyone on their behalf. The submitting author takes responsibility for the article during submission and peer review.
The language of publication is English. Poor English do not prevent acceptance provided the paper's content is of high scientific quality; we however strongly encourage authors to have their manuscript reviewed by a fluent English speaker and writer to improve its language contents prior to submission. All accepted manuscripts are copy-edited.
To facilitate rapid publication and to minimize administrative costs, PHCP Journal accepts only online submission. The submission process is compatible with all the latest browsers. Ensure that javascript is enable in your browser.
Files can be submitted as a batch. The submission process allows the authors to interrupt it at any time, and continue where they left off at their return on the site.
During submission you will be asked to provide a cover letter. Use this to explain why your manuscript should be published in the journal and to elaborate on any issues relating to our editorial policies detailed in the instructions for authors.
Assistance with the process of manuscript preparation and submission is available from the customer support team (editor@phcp-journal.org).
PHCP Journal content licensing: Articles published in PHCP Journal are Open Access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited..
Online submission
PHCP Journal only accepts online submission. Click here to access the Online Manuscript Submission System. Simple onscreen instructions are provided. If you experience problems with the online submission system, send an email to editor@phcp-journal.org. Do not send your manuscript to that email address, it will be ignored.
Conflicts of interest
Will be mentioned in the manuscript as "Authors declared they have no conflicts of interest".
Download the journal manuscript template to help you format your manuscript. Get templates
Maximum length: 4000 words in main text (i.e., excluding abstract, references, legends, tables and figures), 4 tables/figures maximum, and a structured abstract of 250 words plus up to 50 references.
Title page - This page should states: a) The title of the paper (include the study design if appropriate; for example: A versus B in the treatment of C: a randomized controlled trial; X is a risk factor for Y: a case control study), b) Authors names (full name - no qualification. Strictly follow this order: First Name, Middle name (if ever), Last Name. E.g.: Paul Kevin Akuna), c) institution(s) of origin, d) Corresponding author plus his/her address, telephone and fax number, e-mail address, e) Word count (for both abstract and the main text)
Abstract - The abstract of the manuscript should not exceed 250 words and must be structured into separate sections: Background: the context and purpose of the study; Methods: how the study was performed and statistical tests used; Results: the main findings; Conclusion: brief summary and potential implications. Please minimize the use of abbreviations and do not cite references in the abstract.
Keywords. Up to ten keywords (suitable for Index Medicus listing) should be provided at the end of the Abstract.
Abbreviations a list of abbreviations is not accepted. Define abbreviations the first time they are used in the text and use them thereafter. No abbreviations in the abstract except for vary know ones.
Background The background section should be written from the standpoint of researchers without specialist knowledge in that area and must clearly state - and, if helpful, illustrate - the background to the research and its aims. Reports of clinical research should, where appropriate, include a summary of a search of the literature to indicate why this study was necessary and what it aimed to contribute to the field. The section should end with a very brief statement of what is being reported in the article.
Methods Sufficient information should be given to permit repetition of the experimental work. This should include the design of the study, the setting, the type of participants or materials involved, a clear description of all interventions and comparisons, and the type of analysis used, including a power calculation if appropriate.
Results - The Results should be stated concisely without discussion and should not normally contain any references. The same data should not be presented in figures and tables. Do not repeat all the data that is set out in the tables or figures in the text; emphasize or summarize only important observations.
Discussion - The Discussion should deal with the interpretation of the results and not recapitulate them. We encourage authors to write their Discussion in a structured way, as follows:a) statement of principal findings; b) strengths and weaknesses of the study; c) strengths and weaknesses in relation to other studies; d) discussion of important differences in results; e) meaning of the study; f) unanswered questions and future research.
Conclusion - The conclusion should provide a brief summarize of the key findings, potential implications and the way forward.
What is already known on this topic: include a maximum of 03 bullet points on what is already known on this topic.
What this study adds: include a maximum of 03 bullet points on what your study adds.
Acknowledgements - Please acknowledge anyone who contributed towards the study by making substantial contributions to conception, design, acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data, or who was involved in drafting the manuscript or revising it critically for important intellectual content, but who does not meet the criteria for authorship. Please also include their source(s) of funding. Please also acknowledge anyone who contributed materials essential for the study. The role of a medical writer must be included in the acknowledgements section, including their source(s) of funding. Authors should obtain permission to acknowledge from all those mentioned in the Acknowledgements. Please list the source(s) of funding for the study, for each author, and for the manuscript preparation in the acknowledgements section. Authors must describe the role of the funding body, if any, in study design; in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript; and in the decision to submit the manuscript for publication.
Competing interest - Authors are responsible for recognizing and disclosing conflicts of interest that might bias their work. They should acknowledge in the manuscript all financial support for the work and other personal connections. Authors are required to complete a declaration of competing interests. All competing interests that are declared will be listed at the end of published articles. Where an author gives no competing interests, the listing will read 'The author(s) declare that they have no competing interests'. When completing your declaration, please consider the following questions:
Financial competing interests
Authors' contributions - In order to give appropriate credit to each author of a paper, the individual contributions of authors to the manuscript should be specified in this section. The Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals (URM) of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICJME) recommends the following criteria for authorship (Learn more about the URM on Authorship and Contributorship):
References - References must be numbered consecutively, in square brackets (like this [1], or this [2,3] or even this [4-7]), in the order in which they are cited in the text, followed by any in tables or legends. Reference citations should not appear in titles or headings. Each reference must have an individual reference number. Preferably, limit the number of references to 50. If automatic numbering systems are used, the reference numbers must be finalized and the bibliography must be fully formatted before submission. We encourage authors to use a recent version of EndNote (version 5 and above) or Reference Manager when formatting their reference list, as this allows references to be automatically extracted. Examples of the PHCP Journal reference style are shown below. Please take care to follow the reference style precisely; references not in the correct style may be retyped, necessitating tedious proofreading.
We strongly advocate the use of Zotero, a free and open source reference management software which is a very good alternative to expensive software like Reference Manager or EndNote.
Formatting book references: Use the format below to reference a book
Author of the book. Title of the book. Year of publication. Publisher Location. Publisher name
Example: Fleiss JL. Statistical methods for rates and proportions - 3rd edition. 2003. Hoboken. J Wiley
NB: Note the use of dots to separate the sections of the book reference.
Formatting web references: Use the format below to reference a web page
or a web site
Author of the page. Name of the source (if any). Year of data. url. Date link accessed
Example: SAS Institute. SAS 9. http://support.sas.com/software/index.htm. Accessed 10 April 2005
NB: Note the use of dots to separate the sections of the web reference.
Supplementary material/Appendices (if any) - Submit any supplementary material to the editorial office bye email. The editorial office can also decide which material will be published as supplemental material.
Tables (if any) - General instructions for tables.
Figures (if any) - General instructions for figures.
When finalizing your research manuscript, ask yourself the following questions
The STROBE Checklists provide good guidance on how to report observational research well. We strongly advise that you use them.
For qualitative Studies, we recommend the use of the Consolidated criteria for reporting qualitative research (COREQ), available at the Equator Network.
A maximum of 1500 words in the main text (i.e. excluding abstract, references and legends) plus up to ten references and normally no more than
two illustrations (tables or figures or one of each). Otherwise in the same format as full-length original papers (see above).
Download short communication templates to help format your manuscripts. Get templates
Contrary to what it seems, review articles are some of the most challenging to write. Articles submitted to the PHCP Journal as systematic reviews and meta-analyses should adhere to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines.
A maximum of 5000 words in the main text (i.e. excluding abstract, references and legends) plus up to 100 references. Reviews are usually solicited, although unsolicited Reviews may be considered for publication. Prospective writers of Reviews should first consult the Editors.
Several PRISMA extensions exist that we invite prospective authors of reviews to consult and adhere to.
In addition, the PRISMA Website provides key documents for authors. Kindly ensure that your review follows these important guidelines
Comment briefly on findings of Journal articles or other noteworthy public health advances (up to 800 words in main text, no abstract, limited to 10 references).
Please note that word counts refer exclusively to the main text and do not include abstract, references, or acknowledgments.
Download letter to the editors templates to help format your manuscripts. Get templates
Up to 2500 words in main text, 2 tables/figures, and an unstructured abstract of 120 words.
Download the commentary template. Get templates
Analytical essays provide a forum for critical analyses of public health
issues from disciplines other than the biomedical sciences, including
(but not limited to) the social sciences, human rights, and ethics (up
to 3500 words
in main text, 4 tables/figures, and an unstructured abstract of 120 words).
Download the Essay template. Get templates
PHCP Journal approach to case studies is wide. Case studies are used mainly for educational purposes. We broadly distingue three main types of case study:
Download the Case study paper template. Get templates
This is designed to present a forum for critical debate about timely public health topics (up to 1000 words, 10 references). The following structure typically applies to a debate paper: Abstract, Debate, Competing interests, References (not more than 10 references).
Download the debate paper template. Get templates
An outbreak is a sudden increase in occurrences of a disease, with cases in excess of normal expectancy for the location or season. The PHCP Journal publishes reports of outbreak investigation. Outbreak investigation reports should adhere to the ECDC (European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control)'s guidelines for writing outbreak investigation reports
Report Preliminary or novel findings may be reported as (up to 800 words in main text, 2 tables/figures, and an abstract of up to 80 words). The following structure applies to a brief: Abstract, Brief, Competing interests, Authors’ contributions, Acknowledgments (if any), Tables and figures (if any, maximum 1 table and 1 figure), References (not more than 15 references).
Download the brief template. Get templates
An editorial is an article written by or on behalf of the editors that gives an opinion on a topical issue. Editorials are usually solicited. Contact the editorial office if you wish to submit an editorial to the journal.
The structure of an editorial typically includes:
Download the editorial template Get templates
An opinion piece is a short article providing the personal opinion of
the author on a subject of interest. Opinion article may be solicited
or not. The following structure applies to an opinion piece: Abstract,
Opinion, Competing interests,
References (not more than 5 references). Contact
the editorial office if you wish to submit an opinion piece.
Download the opinion template Get templates
Media watch are brief comments on a burning issues recently published in the general media : news papers (online or print), TV, video, interviews, books etc. Contact the editorial office if you wish to submit a Media Watch.
Download the Media Watch template Get templates
A perspective essay is an essay where the author is asked to voice their opinion on a given topic. The topic chosen to provide a personal perspective about should be of clinical or public health interest to PHCP Journal readership. A perspective should not be based on the opinions of others, but should explicitly express the author's perspective or views. In the process of writing a perspective, the author should help readers understand how they form their opinion. A perspective is typically a non-technical document, easily understandable to a wide non-technical audience, so avoid using jargon. Use the first person (I, or we if more than one author). Use details and examples to illustrate your point.
Obituaries acknowledge the work of a significant and recently deceased professional. Contact the editorial office if you wish to submit an obituary.
We welcome conferences sponsored supplements and proceedings. Prospective conference organizers should contact the editorial office with the project for specific instructions.
If you are asked to revise your manuscript you will be expected to provide a covering letter that responds in detail to each point raised by reviewers or editors, and to highlight new material in the text using a different color (do not use the 'track changes' mode of Word). If a manuscript returned to the authors for revision is not returned to the Editorial Office within the stipulated time-period (usually 4 weeks), it will be treated as a new manuscript.
An email is sent to the corresponding author. Typographical errors only should be corrected. The corrected proof should be returned within 48 h. Failure to comply with this deadline will delay publication.
Verbatim material or illustrations taken from other published sources must be accompanied by a written statement from the author, and from the publisher if holding the copyright, giving permission to PHCP Journal for reproduction.
The author(s) keep(s) the copyright to his/their article if and when the article is accepted for publication. The copyright covers the exclusive and unlimited rights to reproduce and distribute the article in any form of reproduction (printing, electronic media or any other form); it also covers translation rights for all languages and countries. For more information about the copyright, see our copyright agreement.
1. Key points
What is peer-review
The peer review process is a key element of the scientific process. During the peer review process, the submitted manuscript go through a thorough examination of manuscripts by other scientists (peer) who will read the article to adherence its adherence to the highest level of scientific method and make a motivate recommendation to the managing editors.
The peer-review process in PHCP Journal
Articles submitted for consideration in the PHCP Journal go through several process on quality assessment before submission to the peer reviewers.
Initial internal review
The editor in charge of the manuscript conduct and initial assessment of the manuscript. This assessment aims to ensure that the submission adheres to the journal instructions for authors. The editors may decide at this stage to reject the manuscript.
Internal peer review
This review is conducted by a managing editor or a scientific editor of the journal to assess the relevance of the manuscript, its importance to our readership, and eventually identify obvious or flagrant issues with the submission including in the methodology or the ethical aspects. The managing editor or scientific editor can decide at this stage to either reject the manuscript or request revisions.
External peer review
The PHCP Journal employs a single-blind peer review process where the author do not know who is the reviewer of his/her submission while the reviewer has all details of the authors of the manuscript and their affiliation.
PHCP Journal uses online peer review to speed up the publication process. Submitted manuscripts will be sent to peer reviewers, unless they are either out of scope or below threshold for the journal, or the presentation or language is of an unacceptably low standard.
Competing interests from are seek from authors and reviewers. Reviewers declare any competing interests and have to agree to open peer review. This implies that authors and reviewers agreed that if the manuscript is published, the peer review will be made available to the readers. The pre-publication history (initial submission, reviews and revisions) is then posted on the web with the published article.
The article will be available online through PHCP Journal as browser able (html) and PDF format. The ultimate responsibility for any decision lies with the Editor-in-Chief, to whom any appeals against rejection should be addressed.
Authors are allowed to recommend 3 qualified reviewers for the peer review process. Adhering to the following guidelines will help you identify peer-reviewers for your submission:
The editorial office reserves the right to invite or not the recommended reviewers. The editorial office will also ensure that the recommended reviewers adhere to the guidelines above.
To guide the peer-review process, the PHCP Journal provides a checklist adapted from the Review Criteria for Research Manuscripts 2nd Edition (AAMC). the Reviewers are asked whether the manuscript is scientifically sound and coherent, how interesting it is and whether the quality of the writing is acceptable. Where possible, the final decision is made on the basis that the peer reviewers are in accordance with one another, or that at least there is no strong dissenting view. In cases where there is strong disagreement either among peer reviewers or between the authors and peer reviewers, advice is sought from a member of the journal's Editorial Board. The journal allows a maximum of two revisions of any manuscripts.
Reviewers are also asked to indicate which articles they consider to be especially interesting or significant. These articles may be given greater prominence and greater external publicity.
For more on the PHCP Journal peer review process, visit the journal peer review page.
We take the issue of plagiarism very seriously. All manuscripts submitted to the PHCP Journal are checked for plagiarism various tools and services. Suspected instances of plagiarism will be investigated thoroughly. Manuscripts confirmed with plagiarism will be removed from consideration in the journal; disciplinary action against authors will also be considered. If the plagiarism is identified after publication, the article will be retracted, and a retraction notice published.
Any manuscript or substantial parts of it, submitted to PHCP Journal must not be under consideration by any other journal. The manuscript should not have already been published in any journal or other citable form, with that exception that the journal is willing to consider peer-reviewing manuscripts that are translations of articles originally published in another language. In this case, the consent of the journal in which the article was originally published must be obtained and the fact that the article has already been published must be made clear on submission and stated in the abstract. Authors who publish in PHCP Journal retain copyright to their work. Correspondence concerning articles published in PHCP Journal is encouraged.
Submission of a manuscript to PHCP Journal implies that all authors have read and agreed to its content, and that any research that is reported in the manuscript has been performed with the approval of an appropriate ethics committee. Research carried out on humans must be in compliance with the Helsinki Declaration, and any experimental research on animals must follow internationally recognized guidelines. A statement to this effect must appear in the Methods section of the manuscript, including the name of the body which gave approval, with a reference number where appropriate. Informed consent must also be documented. Manuscripts may be rejected if the editorial office considers that the research has not been carried out within an ethical framework, e.g. if the severity of the experimental procedure is not justified by the value of the knowledge gained.
Generic drug names should generally be used. When proprietary brands are used in research, include the brand names in parentheses in the Methods section.
We ask authors of PHCP Journal papers to complete a declaration of competing interests, which should be provided as a separate section of the manuscript, to follow the Acknowledgements. Where an author gives no competing interests, the listing will read 'The author(s) declare that they have no competing interests'. To learn more about competing interests the following articles provide some background:
For all articles that include information or clinical photographs relating to individual patients, written and signed consent from each patient to publish must also be mailed or faxed to the editorial staff. The manuscript should also include a statement to this effect in the Acknowledgements section, as follows: "Written consent for publication was obtained from the patient or their relative."
You will need the following to complete the submission of your manuscript:
We strongly encourage authors to use a reference software to format references.
Output styles for Reference Manager and EndNote are provided below. In case
these software aren't available, format your references manually.
A sample of the PHCP Journal reference style below [1,2].
Download journal output style for Reference Manager
Download journal output style for EndNote
Download journal output style for Zotero
Access the online Manuscript Submission System.
To maintain its Open Access business model, the PHCP Journal charges an Article Processing Fee (APF) per manuscripts accepted for publication in PHCP Journal. Authors are expected to pay APF within 30 days of acceptance of the manuscript; passed this delay, the article may be rejected for non-payment of Article Processing Charges. We do not charge article submission fees. Authors or research sponsors are responsible for the payment of the APF. Authors who are covered through one of our Institutional Members are eligible for a discount or waiver of this fee. We strongly encourage authors to assess their capacity to cover the APF before submitting their manuscript for publication to PHCP Journal.
The table below lists APC for PHCP Journal journals (all amounts is $US)
| African countries | Non-African countries |
| 200 | 250 |
Authors can request partial or complete waiver during the submission process. Waivers are subjected to thorough investigation and are rarely granted, considering that the amount charged is already very low and barely cover the cost of publishing a manuscript.
For more on PHCP Journal article processing charges, consult our contact the PHCP Journal sales office at sales-service@panafrican-med-journal.com.
Material and records created during the submission process will be archived. Once archived, these material will no longer be accessible to the submitting author through the journal panel. The duration of retention of records created during the submission process is as follow:
We work closely with authors to make what we publish error-free.
When an article is published, the corresponding author receives an email and a correction request sheet which can be used to submit corrections to our online proof checking system if necessary. In each case, we make sure that corrections are handled as soon as possible.
All corrections are handled by the editor assigned to the article.
All other changes requested will be reviewed by the editorial team for appropriateness.
We publish corrections in Erratum and Corrigendum articles as soon as we can.
Once a manuscript is published, authors can request changes for; grammatical and orthographic errors, errors in the spelling of author names or affiliation, invalid or non-readable characters.
After a manuscript is published, PHCP Journal editors will not accept requests to change the order of authors, add new authors or remove authors.
Requests to make intensive changes anywhere in the text will be declined.
Retractions are considered by the PHCP Journal editorial office after assessing evidence of unreliable data or findings, plagiarism, duplicate publication, and unethical research practices.
The PHCP Journal editorial office may consider an expression of concern notice if an article is under investigation.
When a retraction notice is published in PHCP Journal, the retracted article and the PDF are watermarked with “retracted article” before the notice is submitted for indexation on PubMed and other article databases where PHCP Journal content is deposited
Depending on the nature of the retraction, authors may also be banned from publishing in PHCP Journal for up to five (5) years.
The PHCP Journal Health is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and follows the International standards for editors and authors [1] and COPE guidelines on investigating scientific misconduct.
PHCP Journal participates in CrossMark, therefore, all published articles will display the CrossMark logo similar to the one below. By Clicking on the CrossMark logo you will get the current status of an article and will be directed to the latest published version.
CrossMark Logo 
All articles published in PHCP Journal receive a DOI. The contents of PHCP Journal is currently not archived on PMC or PubMed, but we are working to ensure the largest indexation of PHCP Journal.
Whenever a published article needs to be corrected, the correction or retraction policies above will be applied.
Conflicts and disagreements between authors themselves or between authors and the editorial team are inevitable. All conflicts will be handled according to the Committee on Publication Ethics Guidance. Authors are free to bring their grievance against the journal to COPE. As a member of the COPE, some issues between authors or between authors and the journal can be posted on COPE website as case studies, in accordance with COPE editorial policies.
All research articles submitted for consideration to the PHCP Journal should abide to basic research ethics as guided by international bodies such as:
The basic principles underpinning the ethical conduct at all stages of research are summarized below:
