The Tanzania Journal of Health Research is a peer reviewed journal which targets scientists, policy and decision makers, as well as the public. The Editorial Board welcomes contributions in the form of original research reports, review articles, short communications, commentaries or letters to the editor on health research, public health, and policy and planning. Manuscripts should be prepared in accordance with the fifth edition of the “Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts submitted to Biomedical Journals” established by the Vancouver Group (International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, ICMJE). The complete document, updated October 2001, is available at http://www.icmje.org/index.html

Manuscripts are considered with the understanding that they have neither been published previously nor are under consideration by another publisher.

Preparing a manuscript

The manuscript should be organized as follows:

1. Title. The title should be short and to the point; omit phrases such as “ Investigation on…’ “Preliminary report of …’; numbered series articles followed by a subtitle are not allowed. Taxonomic affiliation and authority should be given in the abstract, or in the key words, but not in the Title.

2. Addresses. Full addresses should appear under the names of the author(s); in addition, the title page should contain the name and address of the person to whom the proofs should be sent. If the author’s address has changed, his full present address should also appear on the title page.

3. Key words. A short list of terms suitable for indexing should be included.

4. Body of manuscript

a.) Abstract (short and concise): this should contain the full scientific name
b) Introduction: this part should be directed to the present investigation; avoid giving a review on general aspects of the topic; number of citation should be limited.
c) Materials and methods: all information must be given so that it is quite clear how the experiments were done: any interested colleague should be able to verify the experiments from this information. However, details about already commonly used methods and materials must be omitted. Information about the origin of the source of materials is necessary.
d) Results: the results are usually presented in tables and figures, and the text must provide a clear explanation of this information. Tables and figures should only be used for substantial amounts of data, otherwise the information should be inserted in the text. Avoid repeating data from Tables and Figures in the text as much as possible.
e) Discussion: additional citations may be given here, and the findings discussed in relation to what is already known. Scientific as well as practical implications may be mentioned. Within space limitations the author has some freedom to express his own opinion, even if editors or referees differ with him.
f) Tables: Data in tables and figures should not be duplicated. They should be numbered consecutively in Arabic numerals, and bear descriptive headings. Each is to be presented individually on separate sheets. If many tables cover similar results, try to combine them. Statistical significances should be indicated with small letters after the data with a note of explanation under the table. Remember that in English data with decimals are written 7.5. Usage of more decimals than necessary should be avoided.
g) Drawings: Drawings should also be restricted and combining drawing under one caption must be considered. Figure legends should be grouped together on a separate sheet. The figures should be identified by number and name of author.

h) References:

i) For citations in the text:

use name and year system; e.g. (Magesa, 1998); for two authors, use the ampersand (&); e.g. (Mboera & Kitua, 2001); for more than two authors, use et al., e.g. (Mboera et al., 1999). If referring to a personal communication use initials e.g. (A.Y. Kitua, per comm.).

For unpublished results, use unpubl., e.g. (Ijumba, unpubl).

The later two categories, however, cannot be put in the reference list. 207 Tanzania Health Research Bulletin 7, September 2005

ii) For citations in the reference section: list each reference alphabetically on the first author’s last name; if a single author has more than one contribution, list each chronologically; in cases of more than one author, list each reference alphabetically on 2nd, 3rd, etc. author’s names.

Publications in preparation or submitted can only appear in the reference list if they have been accepted for publication, mentioning year of publication and volume of the journal with the reference note ‘in press’ added.

Journal titles should be given in full. i) When a scientific name of an animal or a plant is used for the first time in an article, it should be stated in full. In subsequent citations, the genus name may be abbreviated to its first letter followed by a period.
ii) Units, symbols and abbreviations. Numerals are always used with abbreviated units (e.g. 3 mm² not three mm²). In all other cases, whole numbers above 10, fractions and decimals should be expressed as numerals, and whole numbers between 1 and 10 are to be spelled out in full. All units are to conform to the standards of the International System (S.I)
Short communications Contributors are requested to submit short manuscripts (up to three pages in final print) as ‘short communications’. A short communication contains no abstract, and can be organized either along the lines of a regular manuscript, or without subdivisions. Authors may also consider combining the results and discussion sections.

Submitting a manuscript

The manuscript should be submitted preferably by email to:

The Editor
Tanzania Journal of Health Research
National Institute for Medical Research
P.O. Box 9653
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Fax: +255 22 2121360.
Email: lmboera@nimr.or.tz or thrb@nimr.or.tz

Submission Preparation Checklist (All items required)

• 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.

Copyright Notice

Copyright for articles published in this journal is retained by the journal.

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Last updated - April 24, 2008