Health Policy is intended to be a vehicle for the exploration and discussion of health policy issues and is aimed in particular at enhancing communication between health policy researchers, legislators, decision-makers and professionals concerned with developing, implementing, and analysing health policy in high-income countries outside the US.
Health care policies and reforms are made at an ever-increasing pace in countries around the world - and policy-makers are increasingly looking to other countries for solutions to their own problems. Health Policy is committed to support this international dialogue to ensure that policies are not just copied but used and adapted based on the specific problems and objectives as well as the respective context. Articles in Health Policy should thus describe and analyze
1. what is happening in terms of policies, reforms, regulation etc. of health systems;
2. where are the ideas coming from, i.e. are they "imported" from another country or are they developed within the country - and how innovative are they in comparison to what is happening in other countries;
3. why is it happening, e.g. as a consequence of a change in government, popular dissatisfaction, (perceived) unsustainable cost increases or an international requirement, and what are the objectives;
4. who are the actors involved (both governmental as well as non-governmental including scientists, the media and the public), what are their roles, their opinions and their strength in the decision and implementation process;
5. what are intended and, especially, unintended effects of these policies or reforms on the health system in terms of access, appropriateness, costs, effectiveness, quality, patient experience and equity etc.; and last but not least
6. what are their final consequences in terms of health outcomes, financial protection and responsiveness to the population's legitimate expectations, i.e. a performance assessment of reforms and health systems.
To achieve the journal's objectives, Authors are encouraged to write in a non-technical style, which is understandable to health policy practitioners and specialists from other disciplines.
Types of Contribution
To achieve its objectives and to reach its various audiences, Health Policy will be accepting submissions in three different formats:
(1) "Short articles" of around 2,000 words (excluding abstract and references), concentrating on proposed, discussed, just passed and/ or implemented reforms in one of the high-income countries. These do not have to present empirical data but analyze actors and processes. Authors are encouraged to look at the reporting template of the Health Policy Monitor (
http://www.hpm.org/index.jsp).
Articles reporting on research findings in brief are also admissible.(2) "Full-length articles" of around 4,000 words, mainly empirical, analyzing the impact of health systems, reforms and policies - both in terms of intended and unintended effects. In addition, more theoretical, conceptual or methodological papers can be submitted.
(3) "Reviews" of around 6,000 words can either be systematic reviews of health policy measures or examine certain aspects of health systems or health reforms in a systematic, comparative manner across a number of countries. Such papers may also include experience from countries outside the primary focus of the journal. For all types of submissions, the material should not have been previously published elsewhere.
For all types of submissions, the material should not have been previously published elsewhere.
In all cases, Authors should provide sufficient background and context, to ensure that their manuscript can be appreciated by an international readership.
Besides these three main types of submissions, Health Policy is interested in publishing debate among the readers in the form of letters and repliques as well as commissioned editorials.
Acceptance and Refereeing Process
Please click on the following link to view the Journal's Peer Review Policy: Word version
Conflict of interest
All authors are requested to disclose any actual or potential conflict of interest including any financial, personal or other relationships with other people or organizations within three years of beginning the submitted work that could inappropriately influence, or be perceived to influence, their work. See also
http://www.elsevier.com/conflictsofinterest.
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), 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 in any other language, without the written consent of the copyright-holder.
Changes to authorship
This policy concerns the addition, deletion, or rearrangement of author names in the authorship of accepted manuscripts:
Before the accepted manuscript is published in an online issue: Requests to add or remove an author, or to rearrange the author names, must be sent to the Journal Manager from the corresponding author of the accepted manuscript and must include: (a) the reason the name should be added or removed, or the author names rearranged and (b) written confirmation (e-mail, fax, letter) from all authors that they agree with the addition, removal or rearrangement. In the case of addition or removal of authors, this includes confirmation from the author being added or removed. Requests that are not sent by the corresponding author will be forwarded by the Journal Manager to the corresponding author, who must follow the procedure as described above. Note that: (1) Journal Managers will inform the Journal Editors of any such requests and (2) publication of the accepted manuscript in an online issue is suspended until authorship has been agreed.
After the accepted manuscript is published in an online issue: Any requests to add, delete, or rearrange author names in an article published in an online issue will follow the same policies as noted above and result in a corrigendum.
Copyright
Upon acceptance of an article, authors will be asked to complete a 'Journal Publishing Agreement' (for more information on this and copyright see
http://www.elsevier.com/copyright). Acceptance of the agreement will ensure the widest possible dissemination of information.
An e-mail will be sent to the corresponding author confirming receipt of the manuscript together with a 'Journal Publishing Agreement'
form or a link to the online version of this agreement. Subscribers may reproduce tables of contents or prepare lists of articles including abstracts for internal circulation within their institutions. Permission of the Publisher is required for resale or distribution outside the institution and for all other derivative works, including compilations and translations (please consult
http://www.elsevier.com/permissions).
If excerpts from other copyrighted works are included, the author(s) must obtain written permission from the copyright owners and credit
the source(s) in the article. Elsevier has preprinted forms for use by authors in these cases: please consult http://www.elsevier.com/permissions.
Retained author rights
As an author you (or your employer or institution) retain certain rights; for details you are referred to:
http://www.elsevier.com/authorsrights.
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. Please see
http://www.elsevier.com/funding.
Funding body agreements and policies
Elsevier has established agreements and developed policies to allow authors whose articles appear in journals published by Elsevier, to comply with potential manuscript archiving requirements as specified as conditions of their grant awards. To learn more about existing agreements and policies please visit
http://www.elsevier.com/fundingbodies.
Language and language services
Please write your text in good English (American or British usage is accepted, but not a mixture of these). Authors who require information about language editing and copyediting services pre- and post-submission please visit http://webshop.elsevier.com/languageservices or our customer support site at http://support.elsevier.com for more information.
Submission
Submission to this journal proceeds totally online and you will be guided stepwise through the creation and uploading of your files. The system automatically converts source files to a single PDF file of the article, which is used in the peer-review process. Please note that even though manuscript source files are converted to PDF files at submission for the review process, these source files are needed for further processing after acceptance. All correspondence, including notification of the Editor's decision and requests for revision, takes place by e-mail removing the need for a paper trail.
Acceptance and Refereeing Process
Please click on the following link to view the Jounals's Peer Review Policy: PDF version
Revised version of the manuscript
On the basis of the comments of the referees and editors, Authors may be asked to revise their manuscript. In order to facilitate the evaluation of the revisions by the referees and editors, upon revision, Authors are asked:
• to indicate all changes to the original manuscript by means of 'track changes'
• to add a letter for the referees, explaining how they dealt with all of the recommendations and questions from the referees.
Authors should submit their revised version no later than 2 months after they were informed about the decision that the manuscript needs revision. If no revised manuscript is received 2 months after the decision, the manuscript will be considered as rejected. If a second (or third) revision is necessary, the time is usually 1 month for re-submission.
Size and Layout
Manuscripts should be written in English. They should be clear, concise and logical.
Manuscripts should be structured as follows (if appropriate; e.g. short articles may differ): • Title Page • Abstract • Introduction • Materials and methods • Results • Discussion • Conclusions (especially for policy-makers and international audience) • Acknowledgements (e.g. to sponsors) / conflicts of interest (when relevant) • References
Manuscripts should include a line count in order to facilitate the work of the referees.
Manuscripts that do not comply with the above mentioned manuscript guidelines will be considered as non-admissible.
• Title. Concise and informative. Titles are often used in information-retrieval systems. Avoid abbreviations and formulae where possible.
• Author names and affiliations. Where the family name may be ambiguous (e.g., a double name), please indicate this clearly. Present the authors' affiliation addresses (where the actual work was done) below the names. Indicate all affiliations with a lower-case superscript letter immediately after the author's name and in front of the appropriate address. Provide the full postal address of each affiliation, including the country name, and, if available, the e-mail address of each author.
• Corresponding author. Clearly indicate who will handle correspondence at all stages of refereeing and publication, also post-publication. Ensure that telephone and fax numbers (with country and area code) are provided in addition to the e-mail address and the complete postal address. Contact details must be kept up to date by the corresponding author.
• Present/permanent address. If an author has moved since the work described in the article was done, or was visiting at the time, a "Present address" (or "Permanent address") may be indicated as a footnote to that author's name. The address at which the author actually did the work must be retained as the main, affiliation address. Superscript Arabic numerals are used for such footnotes.
Classification and keywords
Authors are asked to classify their submission using the provided classification system. They are also asked to include 3 to 6 keywords, preferably from the Medical Subject Headings from Index Medicus.
Supplementary data
Elsevier accepts electronic supplementary material to support and enhance the submissions. Supplementary files offer the author additional possibilities to publish more detailed tables, the exact wording of questionnaires, background datasets, etc. Supplementary files supplied will be published online alongside the electronic version of the article in Elsevier Web products, including ScienceDirect:
http://www.sciencedirect.com.
In order to ensure that submitted material is directly usable, please provide the data in one of our recommended file formats. Authors
should submit the material in electronic format together with the article and supply a concise and descriptive caption for each file.
For more detailed instructions please visit our artwork instruction pages at http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions.Essential title page information
• Title. Concise and informative. Titles are often used in information-retrieval systems. Avoid abbreviations and formulae where possible.
• Author names and affiliations. Where the family name may be ambiguous (e.g., a double name), please indicate this clearly. Present the authors' affiliation addresses (where the actual work was done) below the names. Indicate all affiliations with a lower-case superscript letter immediately after the author's name and in front of the appropriate address. Provide the full postal address of each affiliation, including the country name and, if available, the e-mail address of each author.
• Corresponding author. Clearly indicate who will handle correspondence at all stages of refereeing and publication, also post-publication. Ensure that telephone and fax numbers (with country and area code) are provided in addition to the e-mail address and the complete postal address. Contact details must be kept up to date by the corresponding author.
• Present/permanent address. If an author has moved since the work described in the article was done, or was visiting at the time, a 'Present address' (or 'Permanent address') may be indicated as a footnote to that author's name. The address at which the author actually did the work must be retained as the main, affiliation address. Superscript Arabic numerals are used for such footnotes.
Abstract
An abstract of up to 200 words must be included in the submitted manuscript. As the abstract is often viewed separately from the article, it must be able to stand alone. It should state briefly and clearly the purpose and setting, the principal findings and major conclusions, and the paper's contribution to knowledge. If applicable, the country/countries/locations should be clearly stated, as should the methods and nature of the sample, the dates, and a summary of the findings/conclusion. Please note that excessive statistical details should be avoided, abbreviations/acronyms used only if essential or firmly established, and the abstract should not contain references to other published work.
Changes to Authorship
This policy concerns the addition, deletion, or rearrangement of author names in the authorship of accepted manuscripts: Before the accepted manuscript is published in an online issue: Requests to add or remove an author, or to rearrange the author names, must be sent to the Journal Manager from the corresponding author of the accepted manuscript and must include: (a) the reason the name should be added or removed, or the author names rearranged and (b) written confirmation (e-mail, fax, letter) from all authors that they agree with the addition, removal or rearrangement. In the case of addition or removal of authors, this includes confirmation from the author being added or removed. Requests that are not sent by the corresponding author will be forwarded by the Journal Manager to the corresponding author, who must follow the procedure as described above. Note that: (1) Journal Managers will inform the Journal Editors of any such requests and (2) publication of the accepted manuscript in an online issue is suspended until authorship has been agreed. After the accepted manuscript is published in an online issue: Any requests to add, delete, or rearrange author names in an article published in an online issue will follow the same policies as noted above and result in a corrigendum.
Figures, tables and equations
Figures and tables, and especially equations or other formulae should be kept to a minimum. Only those figures, tables and equations that are essential to clarify arguments in the manuscript should be included. Except in exceptional circumstances, the admissible number of figures and tables together is 2 for short articles, 4 for full-length articles and 6 for review-type articles. Additional figures and tables may be supplied as supplementary data (
http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions
Figures and tables should still be legible when reduced in size for printing.
Figures of good quality should be submitted online as a separate file. The lettering should be large enough to permit photographic reduction. The legend should be typed on a page separate from the figure. If there are multiple figures, the legends should be compiled together on one page (or more if necessary).
Tables should be submitted online as a separate file and should bear a short descriptive title. Legends for each table should appear on the same page as the table.
Throughout the manuscript text, Authors must indicate where approximately the tables and figures should be included.
Electronic artwork
General points
• Make sure you use uniform lettering and sizing of your original artwork.
• Save text in illustrations as "graphics" or enclose the font.
• Only use the following fonts in your illustrations: Arial, Courier, Times, Symbol.
• Number the illustrations according to their sequence in the text.
• Use a logical naming convention for your artwork files.
• Provide captions to illustrations separately.
• Produce images near to the desired size of the printed version.
• Submit each figure as a separate file.
A detailed guide on electronic artwork is available on our website:
http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions
You
are urged to visit this site; some excerpts from the detailed information are given here.
Formats
Regardless of the application used, when your electronic artwork is finalised, please "save as" or convert the images to one of the following formats (note the resolution requirements for line drawings, halftones, and line/halftone combinations given below):
EPS: Vector drawings. Embed the font or save the text as "graphics".
TIFF: color or grayscale photographs (halftones): always use a minimum of 300 dpi.
TIFF: Bitmapped line drawings: use a minimum of 1000 dpi.
TIFF: Combinations bitmapped line/half-tone (color or grayscale): a minimum of 500 dpi is required.
If your electronic artwork is created in a Microsoft Office application (Word, PowerPoint, Excel) then please supply "as is".
Please do not:
• Supply files that are optimised for screen use (like GIF, BMP, PICT, WPG); the resolution is too low;
• Supply files that are too low in resolution;
• Submit graphics that are disproportionately large for the content.
Electronic artwork
General points
• Make sure you use uniform lettering and sizing of your original artwork.
• Save text in illustrations as 'graphics' or enclose the font.
• Only use the following fonts in your illustrations: Arial, Courier, Times, Symbol.
• Number the illustrations according to their sequence in the text.
• Use a logical naming convention for your artwork files.
• Provide captions to illustrations separately.
• Produce images near to the desired size of the printed version.
• Submit each figure as a separate file.
A detailed guide on electronic artwork is available on our website:
http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions You are urged to visit this site; some excerpts from the detailed information are given here.
Formats
Regardless of the application used, when your electronic artwork is finalised, please 'save as' or convert the images to one of the following formats (note the resolution requirements for line drawings, halftones, and line/halftone combinations given below):
EPS: Vector drawings. Embed the font or save the text as 'graphics'.
TIFF: Color or grayscale photographs (halftones): always use a minimum of 300 dpi.
TIFF: Bitmapped line drawings: use a minimum of 1000 dpi.
TIFF: Combinations bitmapped line/half-tone (color or grayscale): a minimum of 500 dpi is required.
If your electronic artwork is created in a Microsoft Office application (Word, PowerPoint, Excel) then please supply 'as is'.
Please do not:
• Supply files that are optimised for screen use (e.g., GIF, BMP, PICT, WPG); the resolution is too low;
• Supply files that are too low in resolution;
• Submit graphics that are disproportionately large for the content.
Literature references
Citation of literature references in the text should be done as numbers in square brackets. All references should be listed at the end of the paper on a separate page (also double spaced), arranged in numerical order of their appearance in the text, not in alphabetical order.
The Authors should ensure that there is a strict one-to-one correspondence between the names and years in the text and those on the reference list.
Examples: [1] Maynard A. Rationing health care: an exploration. Health Policy 1999;49:5-11. [2] World Health Organization. The World Health Report 2000: improving health system performance. Geneva. 2001.
[3] Figueras J, Saltman RB, Busse R, Dubois FW. Patterns and performance in social health insurance systems. In: Saltman RB, Busse R, Figueras J, editors. Social health insurance systems in western Europe. Berkshire: Open University Press; 2004. p.81-140.
[4] Canadian Institute of Health Information. Health Care in Canada 2002,
www.cihi.ca;
2002.Appendices
Appendices should be avoided. If technical details on a study or analysis (e.g. questionnaires, models) are considered important for the review process, appendices can be included in the first submission. Final revisions should no longer include the appendices. Authors should then note that this additional material is available from the Authors upon request.
Submission checklist
The following list will be useful during the final checking of an article prior to sending it to the journal for review. Please consult this Guide for Authors for further details of any item.
Ensure that the following items are present:
One author has been designated as the corresponding author with contact details:
• E-mail address
• Full postal address
• Telephone and fax numbers
All necessary files have been uploaded, and contain:
• Keywords
• All figure captions
• All tables (including title, description, footnotes)
Further considerations
• Manuscript has been 'spell-checked' and 'grammar-checked'
• References are in the correct format for this journal
• All references mentioned in the Reference list are cited in the text, and vice versa
• Permission has been obtained for use of copyrighted material from other sources (including the Web)
• Color figures are clearly marked as being intended for color reproduction on the Web (free of charge) and in print, or to be reproduced in color on the Web (free of charge) and in black-and-white in print
• If only color on the Web is required, black-and-white versions of the figures are also supplied for printing purposes
For any further information please visit our customer support site at http://support.elsevier.com.
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 alpha-numeric character string which 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. The correct format for citing a DOI is shown as follows (example taken from a document in the journal Physics Letters B):
doi:10.1016/j.physletb.2010.09.059
When you use the DOI to create URL hyperlinks to documents on the web, the DOIs are guaranteed never to change.
Proofs
Proofs will be sent electronically to the Authors to be carefully checked for printer's errors. Changes or additions to the edited manuscript cannot be allowed at this stage. Corrected proofs should be returned to the publisher within 2 days of receipt.
Reprints
Twenty-five reprints will be supplied free of charge. The publisher will send Authors a form enabling further reprints to be ordered at prices listed on the form. All questions arising after acceptance of the manuscript, especially those relating to proofs, should be directed to Elsevier Ireland Ltd., Elsevier House, Brookvale Plaza, East Park, Shannon, Co. Clare, Ireland, Tel: (+353) 61 709650; Fax: (+353) 61 709250. Health Policy has no page charges.
For inquiries relating to the submission of articles (including electronic submission) please visit this journal's homepage. Contact details for questions arising after acceptance of an article, especially those relating to proofs, will be provided by the publisher. You can track accepted articles at
http://www.elsevier.com/trackarticle. You can also check our Author FAQs ( http://www.elsevier.com/authorFAQ)
and/or contact Customer Support via http://support.elsevier.com.