This document provides details on typesetting and layout requirements pertaining to final manuscript submission to Pacific Journal of Health.

If you have access to EndNote, please refer to the Endnote template which can be downloaded by clicking here. Alternatively, you can use Springer’s Basic Numbering Style, download the guide by clicking here. For further information and guidelines, see below.

Formatting Requirements

• Do not include a title page or abstract within the text body; you will enter it separately during submission and the maximum length is 200 words.
• Limit the text to 5,000 words or less
• Do not include page numbers, headers, or footers. These will be added by the editors.
• Write your article in English.
• Page size should be 8.5 x 11-inches.
• All margins (left, right, top and bottom) should be 1 inch (2.5 cm), including your tables and figures.
• Double space your text, including references, figure legends and table footnotes.
• Use a single column layout with both left and right margins justified.
• Limit references to 50 or less.
• Use only a maximum of 6 graphs and tables (total).
• In general, do not use capital letters (except for first letter) for titles, authors names, section headings, etc.
• When referring to figures in the main text, "figure" is abbreviated to Fig. (e.g., Fig. 1).
• When referring to tables, use Arabic numerals (e.g., Table 2).
• Differentiate between zero and the letter O, and between the number one and the letter "l".
• Abbreviation: Used as an aid to the reader (therefore, sparingly), for words used at least 3 times, they are defined in the text the first time they appear, followed by the abbreviation in parentheses. Use this abbreviation thereafter.
• Font:
  1. Main Body—12 pt. Times or the closest comparable font available
  2. References—10 pt. Times or the closest comparable font available
• If figures are included, use high-resolution figures, preferably encoded as encapsulated PostScript (eps).
• Copyedit your manuscript.
• When possible, there should be no pages where more than a quarter of the page is empty space.

Additional Recommendations

Indenting, Line Spacing, and Justification

Indent all paragraphs except those following a section heading. An indent should be at least 2 em-spaces.

Do not insert extra space between paragraphs of text with the exception of long quotations, theorems, propositions, special remarks, etc. These should be set off from the surrounding text by additional space above and below.

Don't "widow" or "orphan" text (i.e., ending a page with the first line of a paragraph or beginning a page with the last line of a paragraph).

All text should be left-justified (i.e., flush with the left margin—except where indented). Where possible, it should also be right-justified (i.e., flush with the right margin). "Where possible" refers to the quality of the justification. For example, LaTeX and TeX do an excellent job of justifying text. Word does a reasonable job. But some word processors do a lousy job (e.g., they achieve right justification by inserting too much white space within and between words). We prefer flush right margins. However, it is better to have jagged right margins than to have flush right margins with awkward intra- and inter-word spacing. Make your decision on whichever looks best.

Language & Grammar

All submissions must be in English. Except for common foreign words and phrases, the use of foreign words and phrases should be avoided.

Authors should use proper, standard English grammar. The Elements of Style by William Strunk, Jr. and E. B. White (now in its fourth edition) is the "standard" guide, but other excellent guides (e.g., The Chicago Manual of Style, University of Chicago Press) exist as well.

Conventions

• Microorganisms: Follow guidelines of the International Nomenclature Committee. Genus and species are written in full the first time the name appears in text; subsequently, only use the first letter of the genus, followed by the species (e.g., Escherichia coli, then E. coli). Note the space between the genus abbreviation and the species.
• Units of measurement: Follow the Système International (SI). Always respect the space between the number and the unit (e.g., 100 °C, 25 mg). Do not use commas for decimals. Use small "l" for liter.
• Use of italic or roman type: Genetic loci are italicized; protein products of the loci are not italicized. Latin words in current use, such as in vitro/vivo/situ, via, et al., a posteriori, etc., are not italicized (note the use of abbreviative points for expressions such as cf., e.g., i.e., et al., etc., which appear in roman type).
• Greek letters: use the “font” command and not “insert”.

Article Length

5,000 words or less.

Colored text

Set the font color to black for the majority of the text. We encourage authors to take advantage of the ability to use color in the production of figures, maps, etc., however, you need to appreciate that this will cause some of your readers problems when they print the document on a black & white printer. For this reason, you are advised to avoid the use of colors in situations where their translation to black and white would render the material illegible or incomprehensible.

Please ensure that there are no colored mark-ups or comments in the final version, unless they are meant to be part of the final text. (You may need to "accept all changes" in track changes or set your document to "normal" in final markup.)

Emphasized text

Whenever possible use italics to indicate text you wish to emphasize rather than underlining it. The use of color to emphasize text is discouraged.

Font faces

Except, possibly, where special symbols are needed, use Times or the closest comparable font available. If you desire a second font, for instance for headings, use a sans serif font (e.g., Arial or Computer Modern Sans Serif).

Font size

The main body of text should be set in 12pt. Avoid the use of fonts smaller than 6pt.

Foreign terms

Whenever possible, foreign terms should be set in italics rather than underlined.

Headings

Headings (e.g., start of sections) should be distinguished from the main body text by their fonts or by using small caps. Use the same font face for all headings and indicate the hierarchy by reducing the font size. There should be space above and below headings.

Main text

The font for the main body of text must be black and, if at all possible, in Times or closest comparable font available.

Titles

Whenever possible, titles of books, movies, etc., should be set in italics rather than underlined.

References

• In main text: Numbered references appear in the main text between square brackets ([1], [2, 3], [4–7], etc.), in the order of appearance in the text, from 1 to n.
• In reference list: Numbering corresponds to the references in the text; the list is not in alphabetical order. Journal titles are abbreviated according to Index Medicus and Biosis. Only published work and manuscripts in press (indicate the journal which has accepted them, "ahead of print" and DOI number) appear in the list. Manuscripts in the submitted stage, or in preparation, and personal communications are designated "unpublished" in the text but are not numbered and do not appear in the list at the end.
• Please use the order/style given in the following examples, as well as the exact punctuation. Use square brackets for the numbering. If there are more than 6 authors, the first 6 authors names should be listed followed by et al.
  
• Periodicals
  
  • [1] Wu XB, Tian LH, Zou HJ, Wang CY, Yu ZQ, Tang CH, et al. Outer membrane protein OmpW of Escherichia coli* is required for resistance to phagocytosis. Res Microbiol 2014;164:848-55.
    *Genus and species names in italics
• Books
  
  • An entire volume:
    [2] Melchiorre C, Giannella M. Highlights in receptor chemistry, Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1984.
  • A chapter in a book:
    [3] Takeda K, Akira S. Toll-like receptors: ligands and signalling, in Kaufmann SHE, Medzhitov R, Gordon S (Eds), The innate immune response to infection, ASM Press, Washington, DC, 2004, pp 257-70.

Tables and Figures

A maximum of 6 figures and tables (total) is allowed.

Legends of figures and tables: Place all legends (including title for each) together on one page. Figures are consecutively numbered with Arabic numerals (Fig. 1, 2, etc.), according to the order of appearance in the main text.

Figures

• Magnification is indicated by a scale bar.
• In the text, indicate where figures should appear: these call-outs are written as "Fig.1, Fig.2", etc.
• Upload each figure separately.
• Help us reproduce your artwork with the highest possible standards

Tables

• In the text, indicate where tables should appear: these call-outs for tables are written as "Table 1, Table 2, " etc.
• Tables are consecutively numbered with Arabic numerals (Table 1, 2, etc.), according to the order of appearance in the main text. Each table carries a short title describing its contents in relation to the main text.
• Except for the heading and bottom of the table, avoid horizontal dividing lines; vertical lines are completely omitted from any table. Instead, the first column is left-aligned, and other columns are generally centered. (When making tables, use “insert” command and not “tabulation”).
• Only the first letter of each heading is capitalized, and any units appear in parentheses after or under the corresponding heading in roman characters.
• Footnotes are collected under a table and referred to in the table by superscript letters (a, b, etc.).
• References in tables are numbered between square brackets, e.g., [5].
• Upload each table separately.