Manuscript preparation

Please submit all manuscripts via our online submission and peer review website.

More detailed submissions instructions are available. We suggest that you print out both this Instructions to Authors document and the submissions instructions so that you can refer to them both during the preparation and submission of your manuscript Instructions on submitting your manuscript online can be viewed here.

Regardless of the type of manuscript submitted, an accompanying cover letter is mandatory for all submitted works.

Please note that by submitting an article for publication you confirm that you are the corresponding/submitting author and that AJOST may retain your email address for the purpose of communicating with you about the article. You agree to notify OUP immediately if your details change. If your article is accepted for publication OUP will contact you using the email address you have used in the registration process. Please note that AJOST does not retain copies of rejected articles.

Articles submitted to the AJST  should be original work and should be contributed solely to this journal unless the authors reserve the rights to themselves, before publication, by agreement with the Editors.

The AJST invites submission of papers on any aspect of science and technology research and practice. We welcome papers on the theory and practice of the whole spectrum of science and technology across the domains of life improvement, and service improvement, with a particular focus on the translation of science into action. Papers on the role of science ethics and law are welcome. We aim to promote the highest standards of science and technology practices internationally through the timely communication of current, best scientific evidence. Our main criteria for grading manuscripts are scientific originality and impact, as well as relevance to science and technology practice.

Availability of Data and Materials

Where ethically feasible, AJST strongly encourages authors to make all data and software code on which the conclusions of the paper rely available to readers. Authors are required to include a Data Availability Statement in their article.

We suggest that data be presented in the main manuscript or additional supporting files, or deposited in a public repository whenever possible. For information on general repositories for all data types, and a list of recommended repositories by subject area, please see Choosing where to archive your data.

Data Availability Statement

The inclusion of a Data Availability Statement is a requirement for articles published in AJST. Data Availability Statements provide a standardized format for readers to understand the availability of data underlying the research results described in the article. The statement may refer to original data generated in the course of the study or to third-party data analyzed in the article. The statement should describe and provide means of access, where possible, by linking to the data or providing the required unique identifier.

The Data Availability Statement should be included in the end matter of your article under the heading ‘Data availability’.

Data Citation

Family Practice supports the Force 11 Data Citation Principles and requires that all publicly available datasets be fully referenced in the reference list with an accession number or unique identifier such as a digital object identifier (DOI). Data citations should include the minimum information recommended by Data Cite:

• [dataset]* Authors, Year, Title, Publisher (repository or archive name), Identifier

*The inclusion of the [dataset] tag at the beginning of the citation helps us to correctly identify and tag the citation. This tag will be removed from the citation published in the reference list.

Preprint policy

Authors retain the right to make an Author’s Original Version (preprint) available through various channels, and this does not prevent submission to the journal. For further information. 

Types of manuscripts 

Original Papers - should be between 2000 and 3000 words with no more than 4 tables or figures. Further information, for example details of methodology, questionnaires and additional tables can be added for publication in the electronic version.

Chekhov's corner - focuses on the intersection of the science and technology practice. Wide-ranging contributions are considered; for example this might be literature that has prompted them to see a science and technology issue in a new light, or has new relevance for today, helping us to consider an issue or problem in a new light as a science and technology community. Articles should be no longer than 1500 words. Editors welcome author’s idea and proposals.

Short Reports - these papers communicate brief reports of data from original research that will be interesting to the readers and likely to stimulate further research in the field. The format of the main body of the article is flexible: it should be concise, making it easy to read and review, and presented in a format that is appropriate for the type of study presented. Short Reports should be no more than 1000 words and a maximum of 2 tables/figures.

For most Short Reports, the following standard format will be the most appropriate:

•          Introduction

•          Methods

•          Results

•          Conclusions/Discussion

Correspondence to the Editors - letters should be written in response to previous content published in the Journal and must reach us within 4 weeks of publication of the original item. It should be of no more than 500 words. Letters of general interest, unlinked to items published in the journal, may occasionally be considered and should not be more than 400 words long. Only one table or figure is permitted, and there should be no more than five references. The Editors reserve the right to make revisions.

Articles are approximately 350 words long, with short readable texts, bullet points, and boxes.

Before you submit

Regardless of the type of manuscript, please consider the following questions.

1. Who would want to read this article? And why?
2. What is the research question or policy issue addressed? And what is its science and technology significance? (Methodological virtuosity does not equal public health significance, unless the methodological advance has potential for broad public health application and the article clearly explains this).
3. (Why) is AJST an/the most appropriate journal? You will need to be familiar with the journal to answer this question.
4. What is already known on this topic, and what does your manuscript add? (We ask all original papers to structure their concluding sections around these questions.)
5. Are you confident in the quality and comprehensiveness of your literature review? If not, please don’t submit until you can answer positively; competent reviewers will pick up on this immediately.
6. Is your manuscript likely to be understood by someone without your specific disciplinary background or specialization? If not, please provide necessary and concise explanations.
7. When there are important controversies about methodology or interpretation of evidence that are relevant to your findings, have you referred to them as necessary?
8. When there are elements of the local, regional or national context about which you are writing that are not likely to be familiar to the Journal’s readership, which is thoroughly international, have you explained these adequately and concisely, with relevant sources cited? 
9. Have you copy-edited the manuscript and references carefully? Especially if English is not your first language, are you confident in the quality of the written English?

Timescale

We make every effort to deal with submissions to the journal as quickly as possible. All papers are acknowledged on receipt and receive editorial review within 3 weeks. About 50% of papers submitted are rejected at this stage. The decision time on papers sent for review is usually about 7 – 10 weeks from submission. After acceptance, your paper will be published online and citable in 6 – 8 weeks, and in the next available quarterly hard copy issue. Overall, about 20% of papers submitted are eventually accepted, usually appearing online 3 – 4 months and in print about 10 – 12 months after initial submission.

General format

While we can accept most word processor formats, the preferred options are Word (.doc) or .rtf file. The page set-up should be set to A4 or American quarto paper sizes. Use one-and-a-half spacing throughout the manuscript and do not insert page numbers. Please avoid using footnotes