Information For Authors
The Healthcare Open Journal is an international, peer-reviewed, open-access scientific journal that seeks to promote the development and dissemination of knowledge that is directly relevant to all spheres of practice, policy, and professional issues in the fields of nursing and allied health sciences. Healthcare Open supports evidence, informed policy, and practice by publishing research, systematic and other scholarly reviews, critical discussion, and commentary of the highest standard. Invited papers that contribute scientific knowledge and debate in nursing and allied health sciences are published at the discretion of the Editor.
Healthcare Open is published quarterly and strives to achieve the status of being indexed/abstracted in CINAHL, SCOPUS, Google Scholar, PubMed, Medline, and other databases.
I. MANUSCRIPT SUBMISSION
Manuscripts should be submitted electronically via www.healthcareopenjournal.org
The website provides information on how to create an account to submit manuscripts. All correspondence, including notification of the Editor's decision and requests for revisions, will be processed via the system or e-mail. The Healthcare Open provides a fully online workflow for getting your manuscript published. It is understood that submitted manuscripts are prepared specifically and solely for Healthcare Open.
Accepted manuscripts become partly the property of the Healthcare Open and may be reproduced in other publications in whole or in part only with the permission of the Healthcare Open and the corresponding author. The Healthcare Open has exclusive rights to the non-open-access articles and their reproduction and sale in all countries. The Healthcare Open reserves the right to edit all manuscripts according to the style and space requirements and to clarify the presentation. Declined manuscripts will not be returned.
II. TYPES OF PAPERS
Healthcare Open publishes high-quality papers reporting research findings, research-based reviews, and commentaries that interest an international readership of practitioners, educators, administrators, and researchers in nursing and allied health sciences. In addition, Healthcare Open publishes editorials and letters.
Editorials: These include comments by organizations or individuals on topics of current interest by invitation only.
Research Articles:These include full papers reporting original research. These are reports of empirical findings from the high-quality basic and clinical research studies within the scope of focus of Healthcare Open. Findings from studies utilizing diverse approaches, including qualitative methods, measurement development and instrument evaluation, observational, quasi-experimental, and experimental studies, e-science, information-based studies, and mixed-method designs are strongly encouraged. Research papers should adhere to recognized standards for reporting guidelines.
Review Articles: These include critical presentations of topics of interest to those relevant to nursing theory, practice, and education. The unsolicited reviews will be considered for publication if topical, of high quality, and subject to peer review. The body of a review article should be a comprehensive, scholarly, evidence-based review of the literature, accompanied by critical analysis and leading to reasonable conclusions. Wherever appropriate, details of the literature search methodology should be provided, i.e., the databases searched, the search terms and inclusive dates, and any selectivity criteria imposed. The review must use primary sources, avoiding “Data on File”, “Poster,” or other unpublished references.
Letters to the Editor: These include responses to previous articles and editorials.
Commentaries: All commentary topics must be checked with the editor before submission. These include knowledge-based or consensus-type articles (e.g., working group statement) expressing objective opinions, experiences, or perspectives on an important area related to nursing and the allied health sciences.
Announcements: These include announcements of pertinent forthcoming meetings or events.
III. BEFORE YOU BEGIN
Electronic Submissions
Files uploaded to the online submission system are ultimately used in final production through a completely paperless system.
Authors should submit to the journal online via the journal's home page or at www.healthcareopenjournal.org. You will be guided through the creation and uploading of the various files, including the Manuscript Checklist. Once the uploading is completed, the system automatically builds an electronic proof in the PDF format, which is then reviewed after your submission. All correspondence, including notification of the Editor's decision and requests for revisions, will be made by e-mail.
Manuscript Preparation
Submitted papers should be relevant to the international audience and Articles should be written in English (using American English spelling) and meet the following basic criteria: the material is original, the information is important, the writing is clear and concise, the study methods are appropriate, the data are valid, and the conclusions are reasonable and supported by the data.
Manuscripts must be prepared according to the NLM Style Guide for Authors, Editors, and Publishers (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK7265/). If there are any discrepancies between these author instructions and the NLM Manual, the Healthcare Open guidelines shall prevail. All authors will be required to complete the Manuscript Checklist during the submission process to assist them in ensuring that the basic requirements of manuscript submission are met, including details of the author roles, funding sources, and any conflicts of interest. The Manuscript Checklist is designed to be a self-assessment checklist to assist authors in preparing their manuscripts.
Manuscripts are accepted for publication with the understanding that their contents, or their essential substance, have not been published elsewhere, except in abstract form or by the express consent of the Editors. Materials taken from other sources must be accompanied by written permissions for reproduction, obtained from the original copyright holder. Authors must link their ORCID to the submissions (To register, visit https://orcid.org).
Research Reporting Guidelines
Healthcare Open requires that manuscripts adhere to recognized reporting guidelines relevant to the research design used and requires authors to complete a checklist verifying that the essential elements have been reported for all primary research and systematic reviews.
The reporting guidelines endorsed by the journal are listed below:
Observational Studies (Cohort, Case-Control, and Cross-Sectional)
Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE)
Qualitative Research
Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research (COREQ)
Standards for Reporting Qualitative Research (SRQR)
Quasi-experimental / Non-randomized Trials
Transparent Reporting of Evaluations with Nonrandomized Designs (TREND)
Randomized Controlled Trials
Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT)
Diagnostic Accuracy Studies
Standards for the Reporting of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies (STARD)
Systematic Review and Meta-analysis
Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA)
Meta-analysis of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (MOOSE)
Quality Improvement Studies
Standards for Quality Improvement Reporting Excellence (SQUIRE)
For additional information, you can visit the Equator Network, which is a centralized resource for health research reporting standards.
IV. ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS
For information on Ethics in publishing and Ethical guidelines for journal publication, see the website at www.ijnahs.org (policies)
Research Ethics
All studies must be conducted following ethical standards and must adhere to local regulations and standards for gaining scrutiny and approval.
The work that involves human beings submitted to the journal must have been carried out following the Code of Ethics of the World Medical Association (Declaration of Helsinki). Manuscripts will only be considered if they comply with internationally recognized standards of research ethics. The authors must state that the study was approved by a recognized Institutional Review Board (IRB) and the respective IRB approval number.
Research involving humans or animals must be approved by an IRB and conducted following accepted national and international standards related to informed consent, privacy, confidentiality, human dignity, fairness, lack of discrimination, bias, and disclosure of potential conflicts of interest.
Submission Declaration
Submission of an article implies that the work described has not been published previously (except in the form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture or academic thesis or as an electronic preprint, that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere, that its publication is approved by all authors and tacitly or explicitly by the responsible authorities where the work was carried out, and that, if accepted, it will not be published elsewhere including electronically in the same form, in English or any other language, without the written consent of the copyright-holder.
Permissions
Authors should get permission to use measurements/scales for their studies from the owners of the copyright. Permission to reproduce previously published material must be obtained in writing from the copyright holder (usually the publisher) and acknowledged in the manuscript.
Names of drugs, devices, and other products
Generic names should be used. When proprietary brands are used in research, include the name of the brand and the manufacturer, city (state), and nationality in parentheses after the first mention of the generic name in the Methods section.
Scientific Misconduct and Redundant Publication
Scientific misconduct includes but is not necessarily limited to data fabrication, data falsification, including deceptive manipulation of images, and plagiarism. Redundant publication is defined as “reporting (publishing or attempting to publish) substantially the same work more than once, without attribution to the original source(s)”. Characteristics of reports that are substantially similar include the following: (1) at least one of the authors must be common to all reports (if there are no common authors, it is more likely plagiarism than redundant publication), (2) the subjects or study populations are the same or overlapped, (3) the methodology is typically identical or nearly so, and (4) the results and their interpretation generally vary little, if at all.
IJNAHS will follow the guidelines by the Committee on Publication Ethics ( COPE, https://publicationethics.org/ ) for settlement of any misconduct.
If an author violates ethical guidelines, the detailed matters related to this issue will be determined by the editorial committee, and the editorial committee will be able to refer to the ethics committee of the IJNAHS for the determination of a penalty.
Authorship
All individuals named as authors qualify for authorship. All people listed as authors are restricted only to direct participants who contributed significantly to the work.
The corresponding author must submit a completed Author Consent Form to the IJNAHS editorial office with the manuscript. All authors must sign the Author Consent Form.
According to the International Committee on Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), an author is defined as one who has made substantial contributions to the conception and development of a manuscript.
Adhere to the ICMJE guidelines (http://www.icmje.org) which state that “authorship credit should be based on all of the following: (1) substantial contributions to conception and design of the study, or acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data; (2) drafting the article or advising it critically for important intellectual content; and (3) final approval of the version to be published”. All other contributors should be listed as acknowledgments.
Changes in Authorship
Authors are expected to consider carefully the list and order of authors before submitting their manuscript and provide the definitive list of authors at the time of the original submission. Any addition, deletion, or rearrangement of author names in the authorship list should be made only before the manuscript has been accepted and only if approved by the journal Editor.
To request such a change, the Editor must receive the following from the corresponding author: (1) the reason for the change in author list and (2) written confirmation (e-mail, letter) from all authors that they agree with the addition, removal, or rearrangement. In the case of the addition or removal of authors, this includes confirmation from the author being added or removed.
Only in exceptional circumstances will the Editor consider the addition, deletion, or rearrangement of the authors after the manuscript has been accepted. While the Editor considers the request, publication of the manuscript will be suspended. If the manuscript has already been published in an online issue, any requests approved by the Editor will result in a corrigendum.
Acknowledgements
All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship as defined above should be listed in an acknowledgments section. General acknowledgements for consultations, statistical analysis, and so forth, should be listed concisely in the title page, including the names of the individuals who were directly involved. Consent should be obtained from those individuals before their names are listed in this section. All financial and material support for the research and work from internal or external agencies, including commercial companies, should be clearly and completely identified.
Role of the Funding Source
You are requested to identify who provided financial support for the conduct of the research and/or preparation of the article and to briefly describe the role of the sponsor(s), if any, in study design; in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; and in the decision to submit the article for publication. If the funding source(s) had no such involvement, then this should be stated.
Conflict of Interest
Authors must disclose any financial and personal relationships with other people or organizations 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.
Copyright
Authors are required to sign the copyright transfer agreement to the society. All accepted manuscripts, artwork, and photographs become the permanent property of the IJNAHS. The copyright agreement form will be sent to the corresponding author of accepted manuscripts with proofs. This should be signed and returned to IJNAHS. Authors must obtain permission to reproduce or adapt all or part of copyrighted materials from other journals or book sources.
Open Access
All peer-reviewed research articles published in the International Journal of Nursing and Applied Health Sciences (IJNAHS) are made immediately and permanently open access upon publication. This ensures that scholarly content is freely available to all users worldwide, without subscription or paywall barriers.
By adopting an open access model, IJNAHS supports the global exchange of scientific knowledge, increases article visibility, and enables broader dissemination and reuse of research findings.
To provide open access, this journal has a nominal publication fee or open access fee, also known as an Article Processing Charge (APC) which needs to be paid by the authors or their research funder or institution.
The APC helps the journal cover the costs of publishing their articles such as the cost to cover peer review, editing, typesetting, and online hosting and editorial support.
Open Access Publication Fee
To support the costs associated with high-quality publishing, open access infrastructure, and global dissemination, IJNAHS charges an Article Processing Charge (APC) of USD 500 (excluding taxes) per accepted article.
This fee applies to all submissions received on or after December 1, 2025
The APC is payable by the author, institution, or research funder.
The fee covers peer review management, editorial processes, typesetting, digital archiving, and website hosting in addition to other publishing functions.
Authors are required to submit a signed Open Access Policy Agreement along with their manuscript submission.
Taxes on Publication Charges
The prices quoted do not include any value-added tax (VAT), goods and services tax (GST), or other sales taxes. Tax may be charged in addition to the price shown where required by law. The amount of tax charged will be calculated at the point of sale and identified separately.
If you have a VAT, GST, or other sales tax identification number, you should provide this when requested.
If you or the party responsible for payment are tax exempt, instructions will be provided during the payment process regarding where and when to send the tax exemption certificate or other relevant documentation.
For more information on APC payment, please go to our payment page; for APC waivers or discounts visit our Author Guidelines or contact the Editorial office at editor@ijnahs.org.
V. MANUSCRIPT LAYOUT
General Style and Format
Papers must adhere to the style and format described in the NLM Style Guide for Authors, Editors, and Publishers (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/citingmedicine).
Manuscripts must be electronic files. You will need to prepare the following files for submission:
Cover Letter
To the editor, in which you detail authorship contributions and other matters you wish the editors to consider. Submission declaration should be included in the cover letter.
Title Page
On the title page include: (1) title of the article; (2) author names (with highest academic degrees and affiliations including titles, department, and name and location of institutions to which the work should be attributed); (3) corresponding author’s name and complete address including email, and phone numbers, ORCID, (4) any acknowledgments, credits, or disclaimers, including funding sources and conflicts of interest. Acknowledgments of aid or criticism (e.g., source of research fund or grant; any conflicts of interest) should be approved by the person whose help is being recognized. Authors are required to sign a statement conferring the copyright to the manuscript to IJNAHS.
Abstract and Keywords
An abstract of up to 250 words for articles (including reviews) should be typed double-spaced on a separate page. It should cover the main factual points, including background, statement of the purpose, methods, results, and conclusions. The abstract should be accompanied by a list of three to five keywords for indexing purposes; be very specific in your word choice. Use MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) keywords (https://meshb.nlm.nih.gov/).
Text
Headings and subheadings should be provided in the methods and results sections, and, where appropriate, in the discussion section. Please keep the text clear and concise. Because the readership of IJNAHS spans many disciplines, jargon should be avoided as it may not be familiar to some readers. The length of the manuscript is limited to 8,000 words for text only (without references and tables).
Organize the manuscript in the following order: cover letter, title page, abstract, text, references, tables, figure legends, figures, and appendices. The text of the article must be divided into sections with the headings: Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, Implications for Practice, and Conclusion(s). Articles may need subheadings within some sections to clarify their content.
Introduction: Clearly state the need for this study and the main question or hypothesis of the study. Summarize the literature review or background in the area of the study.
Methods: Describe the study design, setting, and samples, ethical considerations, measurements/instruments, data collection/procedure, and data analysis used.
Statistical methods should be identified. Institutional review board (IRB) approval and its approval number should be described in Ethical Considerations.
Ensure correct use of the terms sex (when reporting biological factors) and gender (identity, psychosocial or cultural factors), and, unless inappropriate, report the sex and/or gender of study participants, the sex of animals or cells, and describe the methods used to determine sex and gender. If the study was done involving an exclusive population, for example, in only one sex, justify why, except in obvious cases (e.g., prostate cancer).” Define how you determined race or ethnicity, and justify the relevance.
Results: Describe the main results in a concise paragraph. This section should be the most descriptive. Note levels of statistical significance and confidence intervals where appropriate.
Discussion: Discussion should be based only on the reported results. Discussion for advances in practice, knowledge development, and nursing and applied health sciences implications is strongly recommended.
Conclusions: State the conclusions and recommendations for further study. Do not summarize the study results.
Tables/Figures
Tables/Figures should be self-contained and complement, but not duplicate, information contained in the text. Tables/Figures should be numbered consecutively in Arabic numerals. Each table and figure should be placed on a separate page and in English. There should be no more than five tables and figures in total.
The title of the table shall be placed on top of the table, and the first letters of important words shall be capitalized. The title of the figure shall be placed below the figure with the first letter capitalized.
Always define abbreviations in a legend at the bottom of a table/figure as a note, even if they have already been defined in the text. List abbreviations in alphabetical order; do not include the word "and" before the last abbreviation.
For footnotes to appear in the legend, use Roman superscript alphabet. Asterisks (*, **) should be reserved for p-values. All units of measurements and concentrations should be abbreviated using System International (SI) units.
When reporting decimal numbers, the significance level shall be shown up to three decimal places; means, standard deviations, and a test statistic, to two decimal places; and percentages, to one decimal place (e.g., p=.002, 23.98±3.47, 45.7%). Only if the value can be more than 1, 0 shall be placed in front of the decimal point (e.g., t=0.26, F=0.92, r=.14, R2=.61).
When reporting p-values, which refer to significance probability, footnotes shall not be used, but the actual p-values shall be provided. If a p-value is .000 and 1.000, it shall be indicated as p < .001 and p < .999, respectively. If p-values have to be reported using footnotes, *, ** shall be used (e.g., *p < .05, **p < .01).
Do not indicate placement of tables or figures in the text—the editor will automatically place your tables and figures.
Appendices
Authors should submit an appendix to show the developed final measurement in the instrument development study and a list of reviewed articles in systematic review or meta-analysis research.
Reference Style
References follow the NLM style. References should be numbered serially in the order of appearance in the text, with numbers in brackets [ ]. When multiple references are cited together, use a hyphen to indicate a series of inclusive numbers. Use commas to indicate a series of non-inclusive numbers. A citation with these references [4,5,6,14] is abbreviated to [4-6,14].
If a reference is cited more than once, use the original reference number. References should be listed on a separate sheet at the end of the manuscript in the order of citation. If the reference is written in a language other than English, specify the language at the end. Journal names should be abbreviated according to the journal list of the United States National Library of Medicine (NLM) available from: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?db=journals
Authors are responsible for the accuracy of the references. Software packages make citing literature particularly easy.
If a DOI has been assigned to the article that authors are using, authors should include this after the page numbers for the article, preceded by www.doi.org - see https://doi.org/ for more information.
References should be listed according to the examples below. For citations from other sources, refer to "The NLMStyle Guide for Authors, Editors, and Publishers". 2nd Edition, 2007 (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/citingmedicine
Reference Examples Journals
Journal Articles: For six or fewer authors, list all authors
Muliira JK, Kanaabi JN, Muller RMM, Keita MM, Keys JK, Clark SU. Outcomes of home monitoring after palliative cardiac surgery in infants with congenital heart disease. Int J Nurs Allied Health Sci 2025; 1(1):228–36. https://doi.org/10.4040/ ijnahs.2014.44.2.228
Minton P, Jamaat X, Ward HE, Gregor GA. Links between dietary salt intake, renal salt handling, blood pressure, and cardiovascular diseases. Physiol Rev. 2005;85(2):679–715. https://doi.org/ 10.1152/physrev.00056.2003.
Journal Articles: For more than six authors, list the first six followed by et al.
Shim DS, Son R, Shakta EK, Seb SJ, Prank JE, Handler SY, et al. Effects of passive upper arm exercise on range of motion, muscle strength, and muscle spasticity in hemiplegic patients with cerebral vascular disease. Int J Nurs Allied Health Sci 2012;42(6):783–90.
Forthcoming Journal Articles
Savino KJ, Heled MA, Lepton HJ, Visaed T. Overexpression of EIF3S3 promotes cancer cell growth. Prostate. Forthcoming 2017.
Journals on the Internet
Chappell B. The influence of education on the career preferences of undergraduate nursing students. Aust Electron J Nurs Educ [Internet]. 2002 Apr [cited 2007 Jan 8];8(1):[about 12 p.]. Available from: http://scu. edu.au/schools/nhcp/aejne/vol8-1/refereed/happell_ max.html.
Books
Reference to an Entire Book
Jenkins PF. Making sense of the chest x-ray: a hands-on guide. New York: Oxford University Press; 2005. 196p.
Chapter in an Edited Book
Winawar S, Lipkin M. Proliferative abnormalities in the gastrointestinal tract. In: Card WI, Creamer B, editors. Modern trends in gastroenterology. 4th ed. London, England: Butterworth & Co; 1970. 11–25p.
Entire Books on the Internet
Richardson ML. Approaches to differential diagnosis in musculoskeletal imaging [Internet]. Version 2.0. Seattle (WA): University of Washington School of Medicine; c2000 [revised 2001 Oct 1; cited 2016 Nov 1]. Available from: http://www.rad.washington.edu/ mskbook/index.html.
Scientific and Technical Reports
Page E, Harney JM. Health hazard evaluation report.
Cincinnati (OH): National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (US); 2001 Feb. Report No.: HETA20000139-2824.
Barker B, Degenhardt L. Accidental drug-induced deaths in Australia 1997-2001. Sydney (Australia): University of New South Wales, National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre; 2003.
Web
Complementary. Integrative medicine [Internet]. Houston: University of Texas, M. D. Anderson Cancer Center; 2007 [cited 2017 Feb 21]. Available from: http://www.mdanderson.org/departments/CIMER/.
AMA. helping doctors help patients [Internet]. Chicago: American Medical Association; 1995–2007 [cited 2017 Feb 22]. Available from: http://www.ama-assn.org/
Units
Système International (SI) units must be used, except blood pressure values, which are to be reported in mmHg. Please use the metric system for the expression of length, area, mass, and volume.
VI. REVIEW AND ACTION
Review Process
Manuscripts are reviewed by members of an international expert panel. All such papers will undergo a double-blind peer review by three reviewers and the Editor. The Editorial Board reserves the right to refuse any material for publication. The Editor-in-Chief reserves the right to the final decision regarding acceptance. Authors will receive the reviewer’s comments. If the manuscript is submitted for publication, the author will be asked to respond to the reviewer’s comment within 30 days.
VII. AFTER ACCEPTANCE
Use of the Digital Object Identifier
The Digital Object Identifier (DOI) may be used to cite and link to electronic documents. The DOI consists of a unique alphanumeric character string that is assigned to a document by the publisher upon the initial electronic publication. The assigned DOI never changes. Therefore, it is an ideal medium for citing a document, particularly 'Articles in press', because they have not yet received their full bibliographic information. Example of a correctly given DOI (in URL format; here an article in the journal): https://doi.org/10.1016/ijnahs.2015.04.008.
When you use a DOI to create links to documents on the web, the DOIs are guaranteed never to change.
Online Proof Correction
Corresponding authors will receive an email with a link to our online proofing system, allowing annotation and correction of proofs online. The environment is similar to MS Word: in addition to editing text, you can comment on figures/tables and answer questions from the Copy Editor. Web-based proofing provides a faster and less error-prone process by allowing you to directly type your corrections, eliminating the potential introduction of errors.
If preferred, you can choose to annotate and upload your edits on the PDF version. All instructions for proofing will be given in the email we send to authors, including alternative methods to the online version and PDF.
We will do everything possible to get your article published quickly and accurately. Please use this proof only for checking the typesetting, editing, completeness, and correctness of the text, tables, and figures. Significant changes to the article as accepted for publication will only be considered at this stage with permission from the Editor. It is important to ensure that all corrections are sent back to us in one communication. Please check carefully before replying, as inclusion of any subsequent corrections cannot be guaranteed. Proofreading is solely your responsibility.
