Submissions

Author Guidelines

Brain and Health Journal invites original research articles, reviews, case reports, short communications, and letters to the editor. We accept only original manuscripts not under consideration or published elsewhere.

Author Guidelines for Brain and Health Journal

This journal recommends that authors follow the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals formulated by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) https://www.icmje.org/icmje-recommendations.pdf.

Please read the guidelines below, then visit the journal’s submission site to upload your manuscript. Manuscripts not conforming to these guidelines may be returned.

Only manuscripts of sufficient quality that meet the aims and scope of Brain and Health Journal will be reviewed. As part of the submission process, you will be required to warrant that:

1. You are submitting your original work.
2. You hold the rights to the work.
3. You have obtained and can supply all necessary permissions for the reproduction of any copyright works not owned by you.
4. You are submitting the work for its first publication in the journal.
5. The work is not being considered for publication elsewhere and has not already been published elsewhere.

Please ensure that your manuscript adheres to these standards before submission.

Open Access

Brain and Health Journal is an open access, peer-reviewed journal. Each article accepted through peer review is made freely available online immediately upon publication, published under a Creative Commons license, and hosted online in perpetuity. The publication costs are covered by article processing charges (APCs), which are paid by the funder, institution, or author of each manuscript upon acceptance. There is no charge for submitting a paper to the journal.

Article Processing Charge (APC)

If, after peer review, your manuscript is accepted for publication, a one-time APC is payable. This APC covers the cost of publication and ensures that your article will be freely available online in perpetuity under a Creative Commons license.

The current APC is $100. The APC is only payable if your article is accepted after peer review and before it is published. The APC is subject to applicable taxes. Submitting authors from World Bank-designated low-income countries receive a full fee waiver. Authors can request a fee waiver at the time of submission, and these requests will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Fast Track Publication Option:

For researchers requiring expedited publication, Brain and Health Journal offers a Fast Track publication option. This service aims to shorten the review and publication timeline significantly. Details regarding the Fast Track service, including associated fees, are available upon request from the editorial office.

Subscription Charges:

In line with our commitment to accessibility and open science, Brain and Health Journal does not charge any subscription fees. All published content is freely available to readers worldwide, ensuring unrestricted access to the latest research findings in Brain and Health sciences.

Article Types

Brain and Health Journal accepts the following types of articles:

• Reports of empirical studies likely to further our understanding of brain and health
• Critical reviews of the literature
• Theoretical contributions and commentaries
• Intervention studies
• Brief reports

Editorial Policies

Peer Review Policy

Following a preliminary triage to eliminate unsuitable submissions, all papers are sent out for review. The covering letter is important to help the Editor in their preliminary evaluation. Please indicate why you think the paper is suitable for publication and if it should be considered for fast-track publication, explain why. The journal’s policy is to have manuscripts reviewed by two expert reviewers.

Brain and Health Journal utilizes a double-anonymized peer review process in which the reviewer and author’s names and information are withheld from each other. Reviewers may choose to reveal their names to the author in their review, but our standard practice is for their identities to remain concealed. All manuscripts are reviewed as rapidly as possible while maintaining rigor. Reviewers make comments to the author and recommendations to the Editor, who then makes the final decision.

Authorship

Papers should only be submitted for consideration once consent is given by all contributing authors. Those submitting papers should carefully check that all those whose work contributed to the paper are acknowledged as contributing authors. This includes paid or unpaid medical/commercial writers.

The list of authors should include all those who:

• Made a substantial contribution to the concept or design of the work; or acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data,
• Drafted the article or revised it critically for important intellectual content,
• Approved the version to be published,
• Participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the content.

Authors should meet all of the above conditions. When a large, multicenter group has conducted the work, the group should identify the individuals who accept direct responsibility for the manuscript. These individuals should fully meet the criteria for authorship.

If medical/commercial writers are involved in the preparation of manuscripts, they must co-author with a clinician or other medical professional, and their name and full affiliation must appear on the article. The work of any medical/commercial writer must not be passed off as that of a clinician or other medical professional.

Acquisition of funding, collection of data, or general supervision of the research group alone does not constitute authorship, although all contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in the Acknowledgments section.

Please refer to the ICMJE authorship guidelines for more information on authorship. Note that AI chatbots, such as ChatGPT, should not be listed as authors.

Acknowledgements

All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in an Acknowledgements section. Examples include individuals who provided technical help or general support. Personal acknowledgements should be supplied separately from the main text to facilitate anonymous peer review.

Third-Party Submissions

When an individual who is not listed as an author submits a manuscript on behalf of the authors, a statement must be included in the Acknowledgements section of the manuscript and the accompanying cover letter. The statement must:

• Disclose the editorial assistance, including the individual’s name, company, and level of input,
• Identify any entities that paid for this assistance,
• Confirm that the listed authors have authorized the submission of their manuscript via a third party and approved any statements or declarations, e.g., conflicting interests, funding, etc.

Brain and Health Journal reserves the right to deny consideration to manuscripts submitted by a third party rather than by the authors themselves.

Writing Assistance

Individuals who provided writing assistance, such as from a specialist communications company, do not qualify as authors and should be included in the Acknowledgements section. Authors must disclose any writing assistance, including the individual’s name, company, and level of input, and identify the entity that paid for this assistance. It is not necessary to disclose the use of language polishing services.

Funding

Brain and Health Journal requires all authors to acknowledge their funding in a consistent fashion under a separate heading. Author Gateway to confirm the format of the acknowledgment text in the event of funding, or state that: "This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors."

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

It is the policy of Brain and Health Journal to require a declaration of conflicting interests from all authors, enabling a statement to be included within the paginated pages of all published articles.

Please ensure that a ‘Declaration of Conflicting Interests’ statement is included at the end of your manuscript and on the title page, after any acknowledgements and prior to the references. If no conflict exists, please state that ‘The Author(s) declare(s) that there is no conflict of interest’.

For guidance on conflict of interest statements, please see the ICMJE recommendations https://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/roles-and-responsibilities/author-responsibilities--conflicts-of-interest.html#two  and the ICMJE Form for Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest for more information https://journals.sagepub.com/pb-assets/cmscontent/HPO/coi_disclosure.pdf  about what items should be referenced in a Conflict of Interest statement.

Research Ethics and Patient Consent

Medical research involving human subjects must adhere to the World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki https://www.wma.net/policies-post/wma-declaration-of-helsinki-ethical-principles-for-medical-research-involving-human-subjects/. Manuscripts submitted to the journal should comply with the ICMJE Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals https://www.icmje.org/icmje-recommendations.pdf. All papers reporting studies involving animals and/or humans must include a statement in the methods section confirming that the relevant Ethics Committee or Institutional Review Board provided (or waived) approval. The full name and institution of the review committee, along with the approval number, should be provided.

For research articles, authors must state in the methods section whether participants provided informed consent, specifying whether the consent was written or verbal.

When reporting individual cases or case series, authors must include information on informed consent in the manuscript text. A statement should indicate whether written informed consent for publication of patient information and images was obtained from the patient(s) or a legally authorized representative. The patient’s actual written informed consent should not be submitted with the article to maintain patient confidentiality. Authors should confirm in writing that they have obtained written informed consent, which should be retained by the authors/investigators, for instance, in a patient’s hospital record. The confirmatory letter can be uploaded as a separate file with the manuscript submission.

Authors should also refer to the ICMJE Recommendations for the Protection of Research Participants https://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/roles-and-responsibilities/protection-of-research-participants.html.

Clinical Trials

Manuscripts should follow the relevant EQUATOR Network reporting guidelines based on the study type. For example, randomized controlled trials must include a completed CONSORT flow chart as a cited figure and upload the completed CONSORT checklist as a supplementary file. Systematic reviews and meta-analyses should include a completed PRISMA flow chart as a cited figure and upload the completed PRISMA checklist as a supplementary file. The EQUATOR wizard can help identify the appropriate guideline EQUATOR wizard.

Additional resources are available at the NLM’s Research Reporting Guidelines and Initiatives. All clinical trials must be registered with the relevant registry authority, and the registration number should be provided WHO Clinical Trials Registry Platform.

Research Data

The journal is committed to promoting openness, transparency, and reproducibility in research. Authors are encouraged to:

• Share their research data in a relevant public data repository.
• Include a data availability statement linking to their data. If data sharing is not possible, authors should explain why in the statement.
• Cite the shared data in their research.

Publishing Policies

Publication Ethics

The journal is dedicated to maintaining the integrity of the academic record. Authors are encouraged to consult the Committee on Publication Ethics’ International Standards for Authors and review the Publication Ethics guidelines.

Plagiarism

The Brain and Health Journal takes issues of copyright infringement, plagiarism, and other breaches of publication ethics very seriously. The journal protects the rights of authors and investigates all claims of plagiarism or misuse of published articles. To safeguard the journal’s reputation, submitted articles may be checked with duplication-checking software. If an article is found to have plagiarized other work or included third-party copyright material without proper permission or acknowledgment, or if the authorship of the article is contested, the journal reserves the right to take action. Actions may include publishing an erratum or corrigendum, retracting the article, notifying the head of the author’s department or dean, or taking appropriate legal action.

Prior Publication

Generally, material previously published is not acceptable for publication in the Brain and Health Journal. However, there are circumstances where previously published material may be considered for publication.

Contributor’s Publishing Agreement

Before publication, the Brain and Health Journal requires the author, as the rights holder, to sign a Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement. The journal publishes manuscripts under Creative Commons licenses Creative Commons licenses. The standard license is the Creative Commons by Attribution Non-Commercial (CC BY-NC), which permits re-use of the work without permission as long as the work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial.

Alternative license arrangements can be made to meet specific funder mandates at the author’s request. All data related to the paper must be present in an authentic research repository, with the DOI provided. If data sharing is not possible, authors must provide a reasonable explanation in the data availability statement.

Preparing Your Manuscript

Title Page

• The title of the paper must be concise and as short as possible.
• The cover page should include the title of the paper and author details, including full names, email addresses, institutions, and departments. Do not include designations like Dr., Prof., etc.
• Explain why this paper is a good fit for Brain and Health Journal.
• The title page should be uploaded as a separate file to ensure anonymity during peer review.

Main Manuscript

• The main manuscript should not include any identifying information about the authors as the peer review process is anonymized.
• The manuscript should start with an abstract of no more than 350 words. The abstract should include:
• Introduction
• Objective
• Methods
• Results
• Conclusion
• Include 5 to 10 keywords after the abstract, separated by commas.

Structure of the Main Manuscript

• Introduction: Provide a detailed introduction to the topic, including relevant background information.
• Methods: Clearly describe the methods used in the study, ensuring that all procedures and analyses are thoroughly detailed.
• Results: Present the results of your study. If using complex analyses, consult with a statistics expert to ensure accuracy.
• Discussion: Discuss the implications of your findings, how they relate to existing research, and any limitations of your study.
• Conclusion: Summarize the main findings and their significance.

Additional Requirements:

• Figures and Tables: Must be accompanied by descriptive titles and legends. Ensure they are cited in the text in numerical order.
• Supplementary Materials: If applicable, may be submitted alongside the main manuscript.
• Author Contributions: List each author's initials and their specific contributions to the study.
• Acknowledgements: Include any acknowledgements for individuals or organizations that contributed to the work but do not meet the criteria for authorship. Personal acknowledgements should be submitted separately from the main manuscript to facilitate anonymous peer review.
• Declaration of Conflicting Interests: Include a statement declaring any potential conflicts of interest. If none exist, state that "The Author(s) declare(s) that there is no conflict of interest."
• References: All references must be formatted in Vancouver style and must be consistent throughout the paper. Use square brackets to indicate references, e.g., [1], [2].

Examples:

1. Journal Article:
• Format: Author(s). Title of the article. Title of the Journal. Year; Volume(Issue): Page numbers.
• Example: Smith J, Doe J. Effects of Nutrition on Cognitive Functioning. Brain Health J. 2021; 12(3): 123-130.
2. Book:
• Format: Author(s). Title of the book. Edition. Place of publication: Publisher; Year.
• Example: Johnson A. Understanding Mental Health. 2nd ed. New York: Health Publishers; 2019.
3. Chapter in an Edited Book:
• Format: Author(s) of the chapter. Title of the chapter. In: Editor(s), editor(s). Title of the book. Edition. Place of publication: Publisher; Year. p. Page numbers.
• Example: White B. Cognitive Therapies. In: Brown K, Green L, editors. Modern Psychology. 3rd ed. London: Academic Press; 2020. p. 45-67.
4. Conference Proceedings:
• Format: Author(s). Title of the paper. In: Editor(s), editor(s). Title of the conference proceedings; Date of the conference; Location of the conference. Place of publication: Publisher; Year. p. Page numbers.
• Example: Lee S. Advances in Neuroimaging Techniques. In: Kim H, editor. Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Neuroscience; 2022 Jun 15-18; Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo: Neuroscience Society; 2022. p. 56-70.
5. Website:
• Format: Author(s). Title of the web page. Website name. URL. Published date. Accessed date.
• Example: National Institute of Mental Health. Depression. NIMH. URL. Published March 2020. Accessed June 22, 2024.
6. Thesis/Dissertation:
• Format: Author(s). Title of the thesis. [Type of thesis]. Place of institution: Institution; Year.
• Example: Martin L. The Role of Sleep in Memory Consolidation. [PhD thesis]. Boston: Harvard University; 2018.

By following these examples and guidelines, you can ensure that your references are correctly formatted in Vancouver style.

English Editing Service

We offer editing services for papers with significant language errors.

ORCID

As part of our commitment to ensuring an ethical, transparent, and fair peer review process, Brain and Health Journal is a supporting member of ORCID, the Open Researcher and Contributor ID. ORCID provides a unique and persistent digital identifier that distinguishes researchers and supports automated linkages between researchers and their professional activities, ensuring recognition of their work.

The collection of ORCID iDs from corresponding authors is now part of the submission process of this journal. If you already have an ORCID iD, you will be asked to associate it with your submission during the online submission process. We strongly encourage all co-authors to link their ORCID iDs to their accounts in our online peer review platforms. It takes seconds to do: click the link when prompted, sign into your ORCID account, and our systems are automatically updated. Your ORCID iD will become part of your accepted publication’s metadata, making your work attributable to you. Your ORCID iD is published with your article so that fellow researchers reading your work can link to your ORCID profile and from there link to your other publications.

If you do not already have an ORCID iD, please follow this link to create one or visit our ORCID homepage to learn more.

Information Required for Completing Your Submission

You will be asked to provide contact details and academic affiliations for all co-authors via the submission system and identify who is the corresponding author. These details must match what appears on your manuscript. The affiliation listed in the manuscript should be the institution where the research was conducted. If an author has moved to a new institution since completing the research, the new affiliation can be included in a manuscript note at the end of the paper. At this stage, please ensure you have included all the required statements and declarations and uploaded any additional supplementary files (including reporting guidelines where relevant).

Corresponding Author Contact Details

Provide full contact details for the corresponding author, including email, mailing address, and telephone numbers. Academic affiliations are required for all co-authors. These details should be presented separately from the main text of the article to facilitate anonymous peer review.

Permissions

Please ensure that you have obtained any necessary permission from copyright holders for reproducing any illustrations, tables, figures, or lengthy quotations previously published elsewhere.

Upon Acceptance

• Open Access: Brain and Health Journal operates under a Creative Commons Attribution License, allowing unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
• Data Privacy: Brain and Health Journal is committed to protecting the privacy of its contributors and users.

If your paper is accepted for publication after peer review, you will first be asked to complete the contributor’s publishing agreement. Once your manuscript files have been checked for production, the corresponding author will be asked to pay the article processing charge (APC). Once the APC has been processed, your article will be prepared for publication and can appear online within an average of 15 days. Please note that no production work will occur on your paper until the APC has been received.

Further Information

Any correspondence, queries, or additional requests for information on the manuscript submission process should be sent to the Brain and Health Journal editorial office at editor.bhj@braintechclinic.com