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As part of the submission process, authors are required to check off their submission's compliance with all of the following items, and submissions may be returned to authors that do not adhere to these guidelines.

  • The submission has not been previously published, nor is it before another journal for consideration (or an explanation has been provided in Comments to the Editor).
  • The submission file is in OpenOffice, Microsoft Word, RTF, or WordPerfect document file format.
  • Where available, URLs for the references have been provided.
  • The text is single-spaced; uses a 12-point font; employs italics, rather than underlining (except with URL addresses); and all illustrations, figures, and tables are placed within the text at the appropriate points, rather than at the end.
  • The text adheres to the stylistic and bibliographic requirements outlined in the Author Guidelines, which is found in About the Journal.
  • If submitting to a peer-reviewed section of the journal, the instructions in Ensuring a Blind Review have been followed.
  • You have obtained permission for any third party material that is used in the submission.

IJWPC is an open access journal that aims to provide rapid publication of research across a range of disciplines and therapeutic areas, to be published two times per year (January/February and June/July). Submissions should be made through our online submission system. All submissions must be in English. Articles should not be under review, or submitted for review, with any other journal when submitted to IJWPC. 

There are NO PUBLICATION FEES (article processing charges or IJWPCs) to publish with this journal. 

Submission Types

Theoretical papers:

Topics related to whole person care may be presented as a review or theoretical paper no longer than 5,000 words. For example, one may review the literature pertaining to multidisciplinary palliative care for children with terminal illnesses. Or, one may examine the rational for integrative medicine in oncology.

Empirical studies:

Quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods studies should be described according to the standards of their respective methodologies. Interventions that have been subjected to evaluations are welcomed in this section; these may include randomized clinical trials, cohort studies or other forms of evaluation (e.g., participatory evaluations). The manuscript should include an Introduction, Methods, Data Analyses, Results and Discussion sections and should be no longer than 8,000 words.

Commentary:

This type of manuscript allows for reflection on one’s experiences within the health care system, be it as a provider or recipient of care. The style chosen is left open (e.g., prose, poetry, photo voice) so as to encourage creativity in sharing experiences. Manuscripts should be no longer than 1,000 words. If visual media is to be used (e.g. video), these should be no longer than 5 minutes.

Case studies/Narratives:

Compelling stories of experiences that health care professionals, patients, or family members have had are welcome in this section. If a case study, the patient’s identity should not be evident and the code of professional confidentiality needs to be respected. The manuscript should be no longer than 2,000 words.

The Clinician's Art:

This section is for reflective pieces on artful practices of care in the broadest healthcare contexts (i.e. physicianship, nursing, dentistry, clinical psychology, psychotherapy, counselling, social work, etc.). Its aim is to elicit submissions that challenge and question accepted theories, practices, and boundaries of contemporary clinical practice and its teaching that are informed by interdisciplinary approaches. Manuscripts should be no longer than 5,000.

Congress:

This section is only for authors who wish to submit abstracts, posters, etc. for the Congress on Whole Person Care. Authors who are selected to present at the Congress will have their abstracts, posters, etc. included in an issue of IJWPC.

Requirements:

Authors are strongly urged to insert metadata in full when prompted during the online submission process. Authors should also include up to five keywords or phrases suitable for use in an index (it is recommended to use MeSH terms). 

Manuscript format: The manuscript must be submitted in Word. PDF format is not accepted.The manuscript must be presented in the following order:

1. Abstract (or summary for case reports) (note: references not allowed in abstracts or summaries).

2. Main text (provide appropriate headings and subheadings as in the journal. We use the following hierarchy: BOLD CAPS, bold lower case, Plain text, Italics).

3. Tables should be in the same format as your article (i.e. Word) and not another format embedded into the document. They should be placed where the table is cited and they must be cited in the main text in numerical order.

4. Acknowledgments, Competing interests, Funding.

5. Reference list.

Appendices. Images must be uploaded as separate files (view further details in Figures/illustrations) All images must be cited within the main text in numerical order.Do not use the automatic formatting features of your word processor such as endnotes, footnotes, headers, footers, boxes etc. Please remove any hidden text.StyleAbbreviations and symbols must be standard. Acronyms should be used sparingly and fully explained when first used.

Please follow "Vancouver style" formatting guidelines.

Figures/illustrations:

Resolution requirements apply (9cm across for single column, 18cm for double column):

1. For B/W, the format should be either TIFF or EPS. The resolution should be in 300 DPI.

2. For 4-colour, the format should be either tiff or eps in CMYK. The resolution should be 300 DPI.

3. For line-art, vector format is preferable. Otherwise, the resolution should be 1200 DPI.

During submission, when you upload the figure files label them with the correct File Designation.

Histograms should be presented in a simple, two-dimensional format, with no background grid.

Figures are checked using automated quality control and if they are below standard you will be alerted and provided with suggestions in order to improve the quality.

All images should be mentioned in the text in numerical order and figure legends should be listed at the end of the manuscript. Please ensure that any specific patient/hospital details are removed or blacked out.

Using material already published elsewhere: If you are using any figures, tables or videos that have already been published elsewhere you must obtain permission from the rights holder (this is usually the publisher and not the author) to use them and add any required permission statements to the legends.

Tables:

Tables should be submitted in the same format as your article (Word) and not another format embedded into the document. They should appear where the table should be cited, cited in the main text and in numerical order.

Authors are responsible for the accuracy of cited references: these should be checked against the original documents before the paper is submitted. It is vital that the references are styled correctly so that they may be hyperlinked.

Citing in the text:

References must be numbered sequentially as they appear in the text. References cited in figures or tables (or in their legends and footnotes) should be numbered according to the place in the text where that table or figure is first cited.

Reference numbers in the text must be inserted immediately after punctuation (with no word spacing).Where more than one reference is cited, separate by a comma—for example, [1, 4, 39]. For sequences of consecutive numbers, give the first and last number of the sequence separated by a hyphen—for example, [22-25].

References provided in this format are translated during the production process to superscript type, which act as hyperlinks from the text to the quoted references in electronic forms of the article.

Please note, if your references are not cited in order your article will be returned to you before acceptance for correct ordering.

Preparing the reference list:

References must be double spaced (numbered consecutively in the order in which they are mentioned in the text) in the [slightly modified] Vancouver style (see example below).

Only papers published or in press should be included in the reference list. (Personal communications or unpublished data must be cited in parentheses in the text with the name(s) of the source(s) and the year. Authors should get permission from the source to cite unpublished data.).

References must follow the [slightly modified] Vancouver style:12 Surname AB, Surname CD. Article title. Journal abbreviation Year; Vol: Start page–End page.

Use one space only between words up to the year and then no spaces. The journal title should be in italic and abbreviated according to the style of Medline. If the journal is not listed in Medline then it should be written out in full.

Check journal abbreviations using PubMed.

List the names and initials of all authors if there are 3 or fewer; otherwise list the first 3 and add et al. (The exception is the Journal of Medical Genetics, which lists all authors.)

Example references:

Journal article

Koziol-Mclain J, Brand D, Morgan D, et al. Measuring injury risk factors: question reliability in a statewide sample. Inj Prev 2000;6:148–50.

Chapter in book

Nagin D. General deterrence: a review of the empirical evidence. In: Blumstein A, Cohen J, Nagin D, eds. Deterrence and Incapacitation: Estimating the Effects of Criminal Sanctions on Crime Rates. Washington, DC: National Academy of Sciences 1978:95–139.

Book

Howland J. Preventing Automobile Injury: New Findings From Evaluative Research. Dover, MA: Auburn House Publishing Company 1988:163–96.

Abstract/supplement

Roxburgh J, Cooke RA, Deverall P, et al. Haemodynamic function of the carbomedics bileaflet prosthesis [abstract]. Br Heart J 1995;73(Suppl 2):P37.

Electronic citations

Websites are referenced with their URL and access date, and as much other information as is available. Access date is important as websites can be updated and URLs change. The "date accessed" can be later than the acceptance date of the paper, and it can be just the month accessed. See the 9th edition of the AMA Manual of Style for further examples.

Electronic journal articles

Morse SS. Factors in the emergency of infectious diseases. Emerg Infect Dis 1995 Jan-Mar;1(1). www.cdc.gov/nciod/EID/vol1no1/morse.htm (accessed 5 Jun 1998).

Electronic letters

Bloggs J. Title of letter. Journal name Online [eLetter] Date of publication. urleg: Krishnamoorthy KM, Dash PK. Novel approach to transseptal puncture. Heart Online [eLetter] 18 September 2001. http://heart.bmj.com/cgi/eletters/86/5/e11#EL1

How to cite articles before they have appeared in print

1. Alwick K, Vronken M, de Mos T, et al. Cardiac risk factors: prospective cohort study. Ann Rheum Dis Published Online First: 5 February 2004. doi:10.1136/ard.2003.001234

How to cite articles once they have appeared in print

1. Vole P, Smith H, Brown N, et al. Treatments for malaria: randomised controlled trial. Ann Rheum Dis 2003;327:765–8 doi:10.1136/ard.2003.001234 [published Online First: 5 February 2002.

PLEASE NOTE: RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ACCURACY AND COMPLETENESS OF REFERENCES RESTS ENTIRELY WITH THE AUTHORS.