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About This Journal

Overview

The Journal of Appalachian Health features research reports from a wide range of sources, as well as shorter articles on preliminary research. All research articles are peer-reviewed. Other types of articles that are not peer-reviewed include editorials; commentary; book reviews; letters to the editor; announcements; "Notes from the Field," a section of short news and noteworthy contributions from federal, state, and local agencies and nonprofit organizations to announce program activities, grants, and research funding availability, new programs or news from those organizations about their activities that affect Appalachian health; and “Voices from the Hollow,” a section that will highlight work, regardless of its source, being done in the community to improve the health of the population.

Many research articles appearing in JAH will be accompanied by an independently-developed commentary, selected by the editor, that highlights the implications of the research.

Publication Timelines

The Journal’s goal is to maintain a rapid-cycle dissemination vehicle that publishes successful peer-reviewed articles as research emerges. We work on an annual basis to the publication timelines below, which are aims and not exact guarantees.

Ethical Standards

The editors and staff adhere to the ethical standards established by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE; https://publicationethics.org/) and are committed to providing authors with a transparent process in the handling of manuscripts. Any alleged breach of scientific integrity (e.g., plagiarism, duplicate publication) will be adjudicated by COPE. To maintain the highest integrity of the Journal, articles may be submitted to an online plagiarism-detection program.

In addition, the Journal of Appalachian Health supports the policies of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE; www.icmje.org). Conflict of interest (COI) statements are required of all authors: These should include any potential financial conflict or competing interest and any potential nonfinancial (professional or personal associations, political, institutional) conflict or competing interest. Authors will be asked to submit the COI form along with the submission.

The rights of human subjects must be protected by the transparent reporting of the use of same in research. Approval by the institution’s review board (IRB) must be included in the Methods section of any research report using human subjects. Informed consent from adults and assent from parents and children must also be noted.

Authorship rights are limited to those who participated in the research or writing of the manuscript. Full information on this topic is included under Submit a Manuscript on the left navigation bar.

Editorial guidelines are located under Author Instructions on the left navigation bar of the homepage. Authors should read these carefully, as well as the Policies.

Reviewers

If you are interested in becoming a peer reviewer for the Journal of Appalachian Health, please send your name, affiliation, credentials, and a list of topics in which you have expertise to editorial@appalachianhealth.org.