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Author Guidelines

The Journal of Healthcare Analytics and Informatics welcomes submissions of original research, systematic reviews, and short communications in healthcare analytics and biomedical informatics, spanning clinical decision support and diagnostic AI, electronic health records and predictive analytics, medical imaging, precision medicine and genomic informatics, epidemiological and public health modeling, and the trustworthiness and governance of clinical AI. These guidelines describe what authors should know before, during, and after submission. Authors are also asked to consult the Submission Checklist before submitting.

1. Before submitting

  • Confirm that your manuscript falls within the Aims and Scope.
  • Confirm that your manuscript is original and has not been published or submitted elsewhere.
  • Familiarize yourself with the Journal's Publication Ethics, Authorship and Contributorship, Data Availability Policy, AI Use Policy, and Conflicts of Interest requirements.
  • If you are a member of the editorial team or the active reviewer pool, declare this in the cover letter so that the Journal can apply the Editorial Submissions Policy.

2. Article types and length

  • Original Research Article: a full-length empirical or methodological contribution. Typical length 5,000 to 9,000 words including references; up to 8 figures or tables; abstract up to 250 words.
  • Systematic or Methodological Review: a structured synthesis following PRISMA or comparable methodology. Typical length 6,000 to 12,000 words; abstract up to 300 words.
  • Short Communication: a concise report of a focused finding. Typical length up to 4,000 words; up to 4 figures or tables; abstract up to 200 words.
  • Editorial: invited only.

3. Manuscript structure

Original Research Articles and Short Communications should follow the structure: Title, Authors and Affiliations, Abstract, Keywords, Introduction, Methods (or equivalent for theoretical work), Results, Discussion, Conclusions, CRediT Author Contribution Statement, Conflicts of Interest, Data Availability, Use of AI Tools (if applicable), Acknowledgments, Funding, References. Systematic Reviews follow PRISMA structure.

4. Title and abstract

  • The title should be specific, informative, and free of unnecessary jargon. Up to 20 words is typical.
  • The abstract should be a single paragraph summarizing the motivation, methods, key results, and conclusions. Avoid undefined abbreviations and references in the abstract.
  • Provide 4 to 6 keywords below the abstract for indexing.

5. Language and style

Manuscripts must be in clear, professional English. Either British or American English is acceptable, applied consistently. Authors who are not native English speakers may use a language-editing service before submission. The Journal does not provide language editing during peer review.

6. Figures and tables

  • Figures should be high-resolution: vector graphics for line art and 300 dpi minimum for raster images.
  • Tables should be editable text and not embedded as images.
  • Each figure and table should have a caption that allows it to be understood without reference to the body text.
  • Clinical images, such as radiographs, scans, photographs, or histopathology slides, must be fully de-identified, with all patient identifiers removed.
  • Where third-party content is used in figures, authors are responsible for obtaining and supplying the necessary permissions.

7. References

References use a numbered Vancouver citation system, the standard for the biomedical literature. References are cited in the text by number, in square brackets, in the order of first appearance, and are listed numerically in that order at the end of the manuscript. Each reference should provide complete bibliographic information, including the DOI where available. Authors are responsible for the accuracy of references and for verifying that all cited works exist. This is particularly important where the literature search has been assisted by AI tools (see the AI Use Policy).

8. Equations and notation

Use consistent notation throughout. Equations should be numbered if referenced in the body text. LaTeX submissions should use standard math packages; Word submissions should use the equation editor.

9. Required ethical declarations

The manuscript must include:

  • A CRediT Author Contribution Statement (see Authorship and Contributorship);
  • A Conflicts of Interest statement (see Conflicts of Interest);
  • A Data Availability Statement (see Data Availability Policy);
  • A Use of AI Tools statement, where AI assistance has been used (see AI Use Policy);
  • An Ethics Approval statement, where the work involves human participants, animals, patient records, or other sensitive data, giving the approving committee and the approval reference;
  • For clinical trials, the trial registration number and the registry in which the trial was registered;
  • A statement of adherence to the relevant reporting guideline, for example CONSORT for randomized trials, STROBE for observational studies, PRISMA for systematic reviews, or TRIPOD for prediction-model studies;
  • A Funding statement.

10. Templates

Authors are strongly encouraged to use the Journal's manuscript templates, available on the Manuscript Templates page.

11. How to submit

  • Register an account on the Journal site (or log in to an existing account).
  • Click Make a Submission and follow the steps in the OJS submission wizard.
  • Upload the manuscript file, anonymized for double-blind review (no author names or affiliations on the manuscript).
  • Upload supplementary files separately, including a non-anonymized title page with author details, the cover letter, and any data or code files.
  • Complete the submission metadata, including title, abstract, keywords, and author information with ORCID identifiers.
  • Confirm compliance with the Submission Checklist.
  • Submit.

12. After submission

Authors receive an automated acknowledgment of submission. The Editor-in-Chief or a delegated editor performs an initial check (typically within 7 days), after which the manuscript either enters peer review or is returned. Updates are communicated through the OJS notification system. The full peer-review process is described on the Peer Review Process page.

13. Fees

The Journal levies no article processing charges on manuscripts submitted on or before 31 December 2029. Full details are on the Article Processing Charges page.

14. After acceptance

For information on production, proofs, and publication, see the After Acceptance page.

Submission Preparation Checklist

As part of the submission process, authors are asked to confirm that the submission meets each of the following requirements. Submissions that do not meet these requirements may be returned.

  • The manuscript represents original work that has not been published previously and is not under consideration elsewhere, and it falls within the Aims and Scope of the Journal.
  • The appropriate article type has been selected (Original Research Article, Systematic or Methodological Review, Short Communication, or Editorial, with Editorials by invitation only), and the manuscript is structured, formatted, and within the length guidance of the Author Guidelines for that article type.
  • The manuscript is written in clear, professional English, is submitted in PDF format, and follows the Journal's numbered Vancouver reference style.
  • The manuscript includes a single-paragraph unstructured abstract within the limit set in the Author Guidelines for the selected article type, together with 4 to 6 relevant keywords.
  • All listed authors meet the COPE criteria for authorship, have approved the final version and its submission, and have declared their contributions using the CRediT taxonomy. The corresponding author has registered an ORCID identifier.
  • All required declarations have been included where applicable, including conflicts of interest, funding sources, ethics approval and informed consent, trial registration, adherence to the relevant reporting guideline (for example CONSORT, STROBE, PRISMA, or TRIPOD), data availability, and the use of artificial intelligence tools in manuscript preparation.
  • If any author holds an editorial role with the Journal or is in the active reviewer pool, this has been declared in the cover letter so that the Editorial Submissions Policy can be applied. Editorial submissions have been anonymized for double-blind external review.
  • The corresponding author has read and accepts the Journal's Copyright and Licensing terms and the Open Access Policy, and notes that the Journal levies no article processing charges on manuscripts submitted on or before 31 December 2029.

Articles

Section default policy

Copyright Notice

Authors who publish with the Journal of Healthcare Analytics and Informatics retain copyright of their work and grant the Journal the right of first publication. All articles are published open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) License, which permits any user to read, download, copy, distribute, and build upon the work in any medium, provided the original authors and source are properly cited. By completing this submission, the corresponding author confirms, on behalf of all authors, that the work is original, that all authors agree to its submission, and that they accept these copyright and licensing terms.

Privacy Statement

This Privacy Statement sets out how the Journal of Healthcare Analytics and Informatics, published by World Research Union, collects, uses, retains, and shares personal data of authors, reviewers, editors, and registered readers. The Journal is committed to protecting the privacy of its users and to handling personal data lawfully, transparently, and only for purposes that are necessary to operate the Journal.

This statement is informed by the principles of data minimization, purpose limitation, and storage limitation that underpin internationally recognized data-protection frameworks, and by the guidance of the Public Knowledge Project (PKP) for journals operating on Open Journal Systems.

1. Who we are

The data controller for personal data collected through the Journal's website is World Research Union, the Journal's publisher. The Journal's editorial operations are conducted by the editorial team led by the Editor-in-Chief. Both the publisher and the editorial team are bound by this Privacy Statement. For data-protection inquiries, write to the editorial office through the Contact page.

2. What personal data we collect

The Journal collects personal data only where necessary to operate the editorial workflow. The categories of data collected are:

  • Account data: name, email address, affiliation, country, ORCID identifier (where supplied), and a password (stored as a one-way hash and not visible to the Journal).
  • Profile data: reviewing interests, biographical statement, and any additional fields the user chooses to complete in their journal profile.
  • Submission data: manuscript files, cover letters, declarations, and correspondence associated with a submission.
  • Review data: review reports, review history, and reviewing performance metadata.
  • Editorial data: decision letters, editorial correspondence, and workflow records.
  • Server-side technical data: IP addresses, browser identifiers, and access timestamps, captured by the web server in the standard course of operating an online platform.

The Journal does not collect special-category personal data (such as data concerning health, ethnicity, political opinions, or religious beliefs) about its users, and does not request such data through any form on the Journal site. Because this is a healthcare journal, manuscripts may contain personal or health-related data concerning research participants. Such data is the responsibility of the submitting authors, who must obtain appropriate ethics approval and informed consent before submission. Within the editorial workflow it is handled as confidential research material under the Journal's Publication Ethics and editorial-confidentiality protocols, and not as the user's own personal data.

3. Why we collect it

Personal data is processed for the following purposes only:

  • Operating the editorial workflow (receiving submissions, assigning editors, inviting reviewers, communicating decisions, producing the published version of record);
  • Communicating with users about their submissions, reviews, accounts, or registered interests;
  • Sending notifications of new issues and major announcements to users who have registered to receive them;
  • Maintaining the integrity of the editorial record (publication history, retracted articles, corrections, expressions of concern);
  • Meeting the Journal's obligations to indexing services, preservation archives, and registries;
  • Complying with applicable law and responding to legitimate requests from regulatory or legal authorities.

The Journal does not use personal data for marketing, advertising, profiling, or sale to third parties. The Journal does not sell mailing lists.

4. How we share it

Personal data is shared only where necessary to operate the Journal and only with parties that handle the data under their own confidentiality obligations:

  • Within the editorial team: author, reviewer, and submission data are accessible to editors involved in the handling of a specific manuscript. Author and reviewer identities are concealed from one another during peer review under the Journal's double-blind Peer Review Policy.
  • With reviewers: anonymized manuscripts and associated metadata are shared with reviewers invited to assess them. Reviewers are bound by the Journal's confidentiality obligations.
  • With ORCID: where users authenticate via ORCID, the Journal exchanges authentication tokens with ORCID. ORCID's privacy practices are at info.orcid.org.
  • With preservation archives: published articles and their metadata are deposited with preservation services for long-term access, as described on the Archiving and Preservation page.
  • With indexing and abstracting services: article metadata is made available for harvesting through the Journal's OAI-PMH endpoint and the Journal site, as the Journal is admitted to those services. The Journal's indexing position is described on the Indexing and Abstracting page.

The Journal does not transfer personal data to any other third party except where required by law.

5. Cookies and tracking

The Journal site uses session cookies to maintain authenticated sessions and to remember user preferences within a session. The site does not use third-party tracking cookies, advertising cookies, or behavioral-profiling cookies. Server logs retain access information for operational and security purposes only.

6. How long we keep it

Personal data is retained for as long as it is needed for the purpose for which it was collected. Specifically:

  • Account data: retained for the lifetime of the account, plus a reasonable period after closure for audit purposes.
  • Submission and review data: retained as part of the editorial record for the lifetime of the Journal, in keeping with indexing and audit requirements. Reviewer identities are not disclosed in the editorial record beyond what the Journal's review policy provides.
  • Published article data (including author names and affiliations): retained in perpetuity as part of the scholarly record.
  • Server-side technical data: retained for a short rolling period (typically up to 12 months) for operational and security purposes, then purged.

7. Your rights

Users have the right to:

  • Access the personal data the Journal holds about them;
  • Correct inaccurate or incomplete data;
  • Request deletion of their account, subject to the Journal's obligation to retain the editorial record of any submissions they have made;
  • Withdraw consent to receive announcement notifications at any time, by updating the relevant preference in their journal profile or by writing to the editorial office;
  • Receive an export of the personal data they have provided, in a machine-readable format.

To exercise any of these rights, write to the editorial office through the Contact page. The Journal aims to respond to such requests within 30 days. Account closure does not retract or remove published articles; published articles remain part of the scholarly record under the licensing terms in force at the time of publication.

8. Security

The Journal site operates over HTTPS with current security practices for an Open Journal Systems installation. Passwords are stored as one-way hashes. Access to personal data within the editorial workflow is limited to users with the relevant editorial role for a specific submission. The Journal cannot guarantee absolute security of any internet-based service, but applies reasonable measures to protect data in transit and at rest.

9. International transfers

The Journal's publisher, editorial operations, and hosting infrastructure are based in different countries. World Research Union maintains its registered office in Malaysia, with operations in India and Europe, and the Journal is hosted on infrastructure in regions selected by the publisher. By using the Journal site, users acknowledge that their personal data may be transferred to and processed in any of these jurisdictions, in accordance with this Privacy Statement.

10. Children

The Journal's services are intended for use by researchers, students, and scholarly readers. The Journal does not knowingly collect personal data from children. Where the Journal becomes aware that data of a child has been provided without appropriate consent, the data is deleted.

11. Changes to this Privacy Statement

This Privacy Statement is effective from 27 June 2026. Material revisions are dated, and the previous version is preserved for audit purposes. Where revisions affect users' rights or the way data is handled, registered users are notified through the Journal's notification system.

12. Contact

For any inquiry related to privacy or personal data, write to the editorial office through the Contact page.