Submissions

Author Guidelines

Pentecost Journal of Health and Information Technology
Author Information Pack

Description
The Pentecost Journal of Health and Information Technology (PJHIT) is a peer-reviewed publication dedicated to serving as a platform for researchers, academics, healthcare professionals, health administrators, information technologists, and policymakers to share their knowledge and expertise in health and information technology. The journal aims to promote the exchange of knowledge and insights into the innovative application of IT in the healthcare sector among doctors, nurses and midwives, physician assistants, herbal and alternative medicine practitioners, healthcare administrators, researchers, and technology enthusiasts. It encourages high-quality research that addresses relevant issues, challenges, and innovations in healthcare and information technology.

Scope and Focus
The scope of the journal includes, but not limited to, manuscripts that promote the dissemination of information about the practical implementation of IT solutions, data-driven healthcare approaches, telemedicine, electronic health records, health data analytics, rational use of medicinal plants, and other related topics that positively impact patient care and healthcare outcomes. With the primary objective of advancing the research and educational landscape of health and information technology, the journal welcomes original research articles, case studies, reviews, clinical trials, monographs, and relevant studies that stimulate research and interest in herbal medicine education and practice. Additionally, the journal accepts policy statements, opinion pieces, book reviews, conference proceedings, and information related to current advances in these fields, making it an invaluable resource for health and IT professionals keen on the fusion of technology and healthcare.

Archiving and Indexing:
Published articles will be archived and indexed in relevant databases, libraries, and repositories. Information about the archiving and indexing practices can be found on the journal's website.

Editorial Board:
Editors-in-Chief

• Kofi Busia
  Head of Department of Herbal Medicine
  Faculty of Health and Allied Sciences
  Pentecost University
• Prof Mary Immaculate Sheela
  Dean
  Faculty of Engineering Science and Computing
  Pentecost University

Associate Editors

• Dr Appiah Denkyira
• Dr Ernest Nimfah Appiah
• Prof. S.P.Syed Ibrahim

Managing Editor

• Rev. Dr. Justice Anquandah Arthur

Guide for Authors

Ethics in Publishing: The Journal of Health and Information Technology (PJHIT) places utmost importance on ethical conduct in publishing. Authors are encouraged to familiarize themselves with the journal’s comprehensive guidelines on Ethics in publishing, outlined in this guide, ensuring adherence to the highest standards of integrity and professionalism.

Informed Consent and Patient Details: For studies involving patients or volunteers, obtaining ethics committee approval and informed consent is mandatory, both of which must be clearly documented in the paper. Authors seeking to include case details, personal information, or images of patients and other individuals in their submission must obtain appropriate consent, permissions, and releases. The author should retain written consent; however, copies should not be provided to the journal unless specifically requested under exceptional circumstances, such as legal issues.

Patient Privacy: In compliance with patient privacy and confidentiality, authors must ensure that identifying information, including patients' names, initials, or hospital numbers, is not disclosed in written descriptions, photographs, or pedigrees, unless essential for scientific purposes and with explicit written informed consent from the patient or their parent/guardian. The usage of images of patients or volunteers must also be justified based on scientific purposes, and explicit permission should be obtained as part of the informed consent. Any instance of informed consent must be clearly indicated in the published article.

Ethics and Declaration Guidelines

Human Rights: Studies involving human subjects require local organizational ethics committee approval. Authors are expected to adhere to ethical standards set forth by the responsible committee on human experimentation at both institutional and national levels. Additionally, compliance with the principles outlined in the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000, is essential. Authors should explicitly indicate whether the procedures followed align with these ethical standards in their manuscript. In case any doubt arises about the conformity of the research to the Helsinki Declaration, authors must provide a rationale for their approach and demonstrate explicit approval from the institutional review body (ethics committee) for any contentious aspects of the study.

Declaration of Interest: All authors are required to disclose any financial and personal relationships with individuals or organizations that might potentially influence their work, leading to bias. Such relationships could include employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, paid expert testimony, patent applications/registrations, and grants or other funding. Declarations of interest must be included in a summary declaration on the title page file (in case of double anonymization) or the manuscript file (in case of single anonymization). If there are no interests to declare, authors should explicitly state: 'Declarations of interest: none.' Additionally, detailed disclosures should be submitted as a separate Declaration of Interest form, becoming part of the journal's official records. It is crucial that the information provided in both places aligns accurately.

Taxonomy - Voucher Specimens: Research involving plant material should include the deposition of voucher specimens in a recognized herbarium. These voucher specimens need to be fully cited within the article, including the herbarium reference number, origin of the plant material, method of authentication (e.g., expert botanist), and form of the plant material used. Authors are encouraged to verify the taxonomic validity of plant names using international databases, preferably http://www.theplantlist.org. This practice is particularly important for clinical studies involving herbal preparations.

Methods and Quality Assurance: Authors are expected to report the extraction and processing methods and any quality assurance tests conducted. In cases where proprietary or licensed products are used, the manufacturer and batch number of the product should be disclosed as a minimum requirement. Additionally, further details on sourcing and quality assurance, if available from the manufacturer, should be provided.

The Journal welcomes original research articles, reviews, and case studies that address cutting-edge IT solutions in healthcare. Authors are encouraged to describe their methodologies thoroughly, ensuring the clarity and reproducibility of results. Submissions should include details of study design, data collection, analysis techniques, and any relevant statistical procedures used.

Declaration of Generative AI in Scientific Writing: Authors are permitted to use generative artificial intelligence (AI) and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process solely to enhance readability and language. However, such applications should be carried out with human oversight and control. Authors must thoroughly review and edit the AI-generated content, as AI may produce authoritative-sounding but potentially incorrect, incomplete, or biased output. AI and AI-assisted technologies should not be listed as authors or co-authors nor cited as such. Authorship responsibilities can only be attributed to and performed by humans.

Disclosure Instructions: Authors using generative AI and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process should include a statement at the end of their manuscript, before the References list, under the section titled "Declaration of Generative AI and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process." The statement should mention the specific AI tool or service used and the purpose for its utilization. Authors must affirm that they reviewed and edited the content after using the tool or service and take full responsibility for the publication's content. Basic grammar, spelling, and reference check tools do not require disclosure. If no disclosure is necessary, authors may omit the statement.

Language (Usage and Editing Services)

Authors must write their manuscripts in clear and proper English, adhering to either American or British usage (but not a mixture of both), devoid of grammatical or spelling errors.

 Submission Declaration and Verification:

Authors are invited to submit their manuscripts through the journal's online submission system. Authors are encouraged to follow the manuscript preparation and submission guidelines to ensure a smooth review process.

By submitting an article, authors confirm the following:

1. Originality: The work described in the article has not been previously published, except in the form of an abstract, published lecture, or academic thesis. The article is not under consideration for publication elsewhere.
2. Approval and Consent: All authors have approved the submission and agree to its publication. Additionally, the responsible authorities where the work was conducted have given their tacit or explicit approval for publication.
3. Copyright: If accepted, the article will not be published elsewhere in the same form, in English or any other language, including electronically, without the written consent of the copyright holder. The article may undergo checks using Crossref Similarity Check and other originality or duplicate checking software to ensure compliance.

Inclusive Language
Authors are encouraged to use inclusive language in their articles, acknowledging diversity, respecting all individuals, and promoting equal opportunities. Content should avoid assumptions about readers' beliefs or commitments and must not imply superiority based on age, gender, race, ethnicity, culture, sexual orientation, disability, or health condition. Authors should strive for gender neutrality using plural nouns ("clinicians, patients/clients") as the default, whenever possible, to avoid using gender-specific pronouns.

Author Contributions
For transparency, authors are encouraged to submit an author statement file detailing their individual contributions to the paper, utilizing the relevant CRediT roles, including but not limited to: Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Software, Supervision, Validation, Visualization, Writing - original draft, and Writing - review and editing. The authorship statements should be presented with the authors' names followed by their respective CRediT role(s). Detailed author information should not be disclosed in this statement.

Clinical Trial Results
The journal follows the guidelines of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors regarding clinical trial results. Results posted in the same clinical trials registry where the primary registration resides, presented as brief structured abstracts or tables (less than 500 words), will not be considered prior to publication. Authors should fully disclose all postings related to the same or closely related work in registries. The manuscript should include a sample size calculation or a justification for its absence, and the herbal consort must be specified.

Reporting Clinical Trials
Randomized controlled trials should adhere to the CONSORT guidelines. Authors must provide the CONSORT checklist and a flow diagram illustrating patient progress through the trial at the time of manuscript submission. This flow diagram should cover recruitment, enrollment, randomization, withdrawal, and completion, while the CONSORT checklist and a template flow diagram are available online.

Registration of Clinical Trials
Clinical trials must be registered in a public trials registry as per the recommendations of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. Registration should occur before or at the onset of patient enrolment. The clinical trial registration number should be included at the end of the article's abstract. A clinical trial involves prospectively assigning human participants or groups to health-related interventions to evaluate health outcomes. Purely observational studies where the investigator does not determine the medical intervention do not require registration.

Copyright
Upon acceptance of an article, authors will be asked to complete a 'Journal Publishing Agreement.' This agreement confirms the receipt of the manuscript and outlines the copyright terms. Subscribers are permitted to reproduce tables of contents or lists of articles, including abstracts, for internal circulation within their institutions. However, permission from the PJHIT is required for resale or distribution outside the institution and for all other derivative works, such as compilations and translations. If the article includes excerpts from other copyrighted works, written permission must be obtained from the copyright owners, and proper credit should be given to the source(s

Author Rights

As an author, you (or your employer/institution) retain certain rights to reuse your work.

Role of the Funding Source

Authors are requested to identify the financial support provider(s) for the research and/or article preparation. Authors should briefly describe the role of the sponsor(s), if any, in study design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, writing of the report, and the decision to submit the article for publication. If the funding source(s) had no involvement in these aspects, it is recommended to state so.

Open Access

The journal may follow an open access publishing model, allowing free access to published articles. Authors may be required to comply with specific copyright policies, which will be stated on the journal's website.

Submission

The online submission system will guide you through entering your article details and uploading the files. The system converts the files to a single PDF used in the peer-review process. For final publication, editable files (e.g., Word, LaTeX) are required for typesetting. All correspondence, including the Editor's decision and revision requests, will be communicated via email.

Submission Address:

Please submit your article via the following link: https://journals.pentvars.edu.gh/index.php/pjhit.

Suggesting Reviewers:

When submitting your article, please provide several potential reviewers' names and institutional e-mail addresses. Ensure that the suggested reviewers are not your colleagues or co-authors from the past three years. Also, avoid suggesting reviewers with potential competing interests. For a comprehensive and diverse assessment of your work, consider suggesting reviewers from different countries/regions and various diversity attributes such as gender, race, ethnicity, career stage, etc. Do not include existing members of the journal's editorial team, as the journal is already aware of them. Please note that the editor will decide whether or not to invite your suggested reviewers.

Preparation

Peer Review

PJHIT employs a rigorous peer-review process to ensure the quality and validity of published content. Manuscripts submitted for consideration will undergo a double anonymized review by qualified experts in the respective fields. All contributions will be initially assessed by the editor for suitability. Suitable papers will then be sent to at least two independent expert reviewers for scientific evaluation. The final decision regarding acceptance or rejection lies with the Editor. Editors are not involved in decisions about papers they have written themselves, papers by family members or colleagues, or papers related to products or services in which the editor has an interest. Such submissions are subject to the usual peer review procedures, with peer review handled independently of the relevant editor and their research groups.

Use of Word Processing Software

Files must be saved in the native format of the word processor used. Keep the text layout simple, avoiding justifying text or hyphenating words. Use bold face, italics, subscripts, and superscripts as needed. When preparing tables, use one grid for each individual table and align columns using tabs, not spaces. Source files for figures, tables, and text graphics will be required whether or not you embed your figures in the text.

Article Structure

Divide your article into clearly defined and numbered sections. Use subsections numbered as 1.1, 1.1.1, 1.2, etc. Avoid a detailed literature survey or summary of the results in the introduction. Provide sufficient details in the Material and Methods section to allow reproducibility. Summarize published methods and cite the source, or use quotation marks if directly quoting. Present clear and concise results. The discussion should explore the significance of the results without repeating them. A separate Conclusions section may present the main findings or be included in the Discussion or Results and Discussion section

Appendices

Articles that include more than one appendix, must be labelled as A, B, etc. For formulae and equations in the appendices, separate numbering, such as Eq. (A.1), Eq. (A.2), and so on, must be used. In subsequent appendices, use Eq. (B.1) and continue the numbering accordingly. Similarly, for tables and figures, label them as Table A.1, Fig. A.1, and so forth.

Essential Title Page Information

• Title: Provide a concise and informative title that is suitable for information-retrieval systems. Avoid using abbreviations and formulae whenever possible.
• Author Names and Affiliations: Clearly indicate the given names and family names of all authors. Double-check the accuracy of all names. Indicate the authors' affiliations below their names, using lowercase superscript letters. Provide the full postal address of each affiliation, including the country name, and if available, include the e-mail address of each author.
• Corresponding Author: Clearly identify the corresponding author who will handle all correspondence during the peer review and publication process, including post-publication queries related to the methodology and materials. Ensure that the corresponding author's e-mail address is provided and kept up to date.
• Present/Permanent Address: If any of the authors have changed their address since the completion of the work described in the article, indicate the current address as a footnote with a superscript Arabic numeral. The main affiliation address should still be the address where the work was carried out.

Abstract

The abstract should be structured with four sub-headings: Introduction (including the aim of the study), Methods (materials used, methodology), Results, and Discussion/Conclusions. The abstract should not exceed 250 words and should be presented at the beginning of the paper. Avoid unsubstantiated speculation and the use of footnotes. References must provide complete publication data.

Graphical Abstract

While a graphical abstract is optional, it is recommended as it can attract more attention to your online article. The graphical abstract should succinctly summarize the article's contents in a visually appealing form. Submit graphical abstracts as separate files during the online submission process. Ensure the image size is a minimum of 531 × 1328 pixels (h × w) or proportionally more, and the image should be readable at a size of 5 × 13 cm using a regular screen resolution of 96 dpi. Preferred file types are TIFF, EPS, PDF, or MS Office files.

Keywords

Immediately after the abstract, provide a maximum of 6 keywords, using American spelling and avoiding general and plural terms, as well as multiple concepts. Be sparing with abbreviations, using only those firmly established in the field. These keywords will be used for indexing purposes.

Abbreviations

Define abbreviations that are not standard in the field in a footnote on the first page of the article. For abbreviations used in the abstract, provide definitions at their first mention there and in the footnote. Maintain consistency in abbreviations throughout the article.

Acknowledgements

Please compile all acknowledgements in a separate document and submit it along with your article. We require this as a separate optional submission item to ensure the peer review process remains fully anonymized.

Formatting of Funding Sources

List funding sources in the following standard format to comply with funder's requirements:

Funding: This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health [grant numbers xxxx, yyyy]; the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Seattle, WA [grant number zzzz]; and the United States Institutes of Peace [grant number aaaa].

You don't need to include detailed descriptions of the programme or type of grants and awards. If funding comes from a block grant or other resources available to a university, college, or research institution, include the name of the institute or organization that provided the funding.

If no funding was provided for the research, please include the following sentence: "This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors."

Units

Adhere to internationally accepted rules and conventions by using the International System of Units (SI). If other units are mentioned, provide their equivalent in SI units.

Footnotes

Use footnotes sparingly and number them consecutively throughout the article. Some word processors allow footnotes to be built into the text, but if not, indicate the position of footnotes in the text and list them separately at the end of the article. Do not include footnotes in the Reference list.

Artwork

Image Manipulation

While authors may need to manipulate images for clarity, any manipulation for the purpose of deception or fraud will be considered scientific ethical abuse and handled accordingly. For graphical images, the following policy is applied: no specific feature within an image may be enhanced, obscured, moved, removed, or introduced. Adjustments of brightness, contrast, or color balance are acceptable as long as they do not obscure or eliminate any information present in the original. Nonlinear adjustments (e.g., gamma setting changes) must be disclosed in the figure legend.

Electronic Artwork

General Points

• Ensure uniform lettering and sizing of original artwork.
• Embed used fonts if the application provides that option.
• Use fonts such as Arial, Courier, Times New Roman, Symbol, or similar.
• Number illustrations according to their sequence in the text.
• Use a logical naming convention for artwork files.
• Provide captions to illustrations separately.
• Size illustrations close to the desired dimensions of the published version.
• Submit each illustration as a separate file.
• Ensure colour images are accessible to all, including those with impaired color vision.

Formats

If your electronic artwork is created in a Microsoft Office application (Word, PowerPoint, Excel), submit it in the native document format.

For other applications, convert the images to one of the following formats:

EPS (or PDF): For vector drawings, embed all used fonts

TIFF (or JPEG): Colour or grey scale photographs (halftones), keep to a minimum of 300 dpi.

TIFF (or JPEG): Bitmapped (pure black & white pixels) line drawings, keep to a minimum of 1000 dpi.

TIFF (or JPEG): Combinations bitmapped line/half-tone (color or grayscale), keep to a minimum of 500 dpi.

Please do not

Supply files that are optimized for screen use (e.g., GIF, BMP, PICT, WPG); these typically have a low number of pixels and limited set of colours;

Supply files that are too low in resolution;

Submit graphics that are disproportionately large for the content.

Figure Captions

Ensure that each illustration has a separate caption. Do not attach the captions to the figures themselves. A caption should consist of a brief title (not on the figure) and a description of the illustration. Keep the text within the illustrations to a minimum but explain all symbols and abbreviations used.

Tables

Submit tables as editable text and not as images. You can place tables next to the article's relevant text or on separate pages at the end. Number tables consecutively in accordance with their appearance in the text and place any table notes below the table body. Use tables sparingly and ensure that the data presented in them do not duplicate results described elsewhere in the article. Avoid using vertical rules and shading in table cells.

References

Citation in Text:

Ensure that every reference cited in the text is also in the reference list, and vice versa. Full references should be given for any citations in the abstract. Avoid using unpublished results and personal communications in the reference list, but you may mention them in the text. If included in the reference list, these references should follow the standard reference style of the journal and indicate "Unpublished results" or "Personal communication" in place of the publication date.

Web References:

For web references, provide the full URL and last access date. If available, include additional information such as the DOI, author names, dates, and reference to a source publication. You can list web references separately (e.g., after the reference list) or include them in the reference list.

Data References:

This journal encourages citing underlying or relevant datasets in your manuscript by including a data reference in your Reference List. Data references should include the author name(s), dataset title, data repository, version (if available), year, and global persistent identifier. Add "[dataset]" immediately before the reference to identify it as a data reference.

 Preprint References:

If a preprint has been subsequently published as a peer-reviewed article, use the formal publication as the reference. Preprints that have not yet been formally published but are important to your work can still be referenced. Clearly mark preprints by including the word "preprint" or the name of the preprint server as part of the reference. Provide the preprint DOI as well.

References in a Special Issue:

When referencing articles in the same Special Issue, add the words "this issue" to the references in the list and any citations in the text.

In-text Citations:

All citations in the text should follow the format below:

1. Single author: Author's name and the year of publication.
2. Two authors: Both authors' names and the year of publication.
3. Three or more authors: First author's name followed by 'et al.' and the year of publication.

Examples:

• Single author: (Allan, 2000)
• Two authors: (Allan and Jones, 1999)
• Three or more authors: (Jones et al., 2010)

References List:

References should be listed in alphabetical order. If multiple references are from the same author(s) and year, use 'a', 'b', 'c', etc., after the year of publication to distinguish them.

Examples:

Journal Publication: Van der Geer, J., Hanraads, J.A.J., Lupton, R.A. (2010). The art of writing a scientific article. Journal of Scientific Communication. 163, 51–59. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.Sc.2010.00372.

Journal Publication with Article Number: Van der Geer, J., Hanraads, J.A.J., Lupton, R.A. (2018). The art of writing a scientific article. Heliyon. 19, e00205. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2018.e00205.

Book: Strunk Jr., W., White, E.B. (2000). The Elements of Style, fourth ed. Longman, New York.

Chapter in an Edited Book: Mettam, G.R., Adams, L.B. (2009). How to prepare an electronic version of your article, in: Jones, B.S., Smith , R.Z. (Eds.), Introduction to the Electronic Age. E-Publishing Inc., New York, pp. 281–304.

Website: Cancer Research UK (1975). Cancer statistics reports for the UK. http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/aboutcancer/statistics/cancerstatsreport/ (accessed 13 March 2003).

Dataset: [dataset] Oguro, M., Imahiro, S., Saito, S., Nakashizuka, T. (2015). Mortality data for Japanese oak wilt disease and surrounding forest compositions. Mendeley Data, v1. https://doi.org/10.17632/xwj98nb39r.1.

Software: Coon, E., Berndt, M., Jan, A., Svyatsky, D., Atchley, A., Kikinzon, E., Harp, D., Manzini, G., Shelef, E., Lipnikov, K., Garimella, R., Xu, C., Moulton, D., Karra, S., Painter, S., Jafarov, E., and Molins, S., 2020. Advanced Terrestrial Simulator (ATS) v0.88 (Version 0.88). Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3727209.

Supplementary Material:

Supplementary material such as applications, images, and sound clips can be published with your article to enhance it. Submit the material together with the article and provide a descriptive caption for each supplementary file. If updates are required, submit an updated file without annotating changes on a previous version.

Research Data: This journal encourages sharing research data that supports your publication, including results of observations or experimentation, software, code, models, algorithms, protocols, methods, and other materials related to the project.

Data Linking: If you have made your research data available in a data repository, you can link your article directly to the dataset. You can directly link your dataset to your article by providing the relevant information in the submission system.

Research Elements: This journal allows you to publish research objects related to your original research, such as data, methods, protocols, software, and hardware, as an additional paper in a Research Elements journal. Research Elements is a suite of peer-reviewed, open-access journals that make your research objects findable, accessible, and reusable. Articles in Research Elements place research objects into context by providing detailed descriptions and linking to the associated original research articles. You have the opportunity to prepare and submit a manuscript to one of the Research Elements journals during the submission process.

Data Statement: To promote transparency, it is encouraged to state the availability of your data in your submission. If your data is not accessible or unsuitable to post, you can indicate the reason during the submission process, such as stating that the research data is confidential.

Review Article Writing: If you are writing a review article, it should be a critical, constructive, scientific analysis of the literature in a specific field, relying on previously published literature or data. The introduction should justify the need for the review, define the focus, research question, and explain the text structure. Reviews must have a methods section that includes information about data sources, search terms, selection criteria, and statistical methods if applicable. Systematic reviews and meta-analyses should follow the PRISMA guidelines. The review should include a critical analysis of the data presented in a discussion and conclusion, highlighting achievements, gaps in knowledge, and identifying research priorities.

Author Inquiries: If you have any questions or need support, you can contact the Editorial Manager at:  pentvarsjournal@pentvars.edu.gh

Author Fees:

There are NO PUBLICATION FEES

Publication Frequency:

Pentecost Journal of Health and Information Technology is published once a year, with regular issues released at specific intervals.