The Journal of Allied Health is the official publication of the Association of Schools Advancing Health Professions (ASAHP). The Journal is the only interdisciplinary allied health periodical, publishing scholarly works related to research and development, feature articles, research abstracts and book reviews. Readers of The Journal comprise allied health leaders, educators, faculty and students.

Subscribers to The Journal consist of domestic and international college and university libraries, health organizations and hospitals. Almost 20% of subscribers, in the last three years, have been from outside of the United States. Subscribers include the World Health Organization, the American Medical Association and major universities.

Authors who are considering the likelihood of submitting a paper to the Journal are recommended to pay close attention to the following information: 

When asked to indicate the type of article to submit, the most common choice is “Original Research Article,” which is defined below along with other types. Typically, that article subsequently may lead reviewers to recommend that the paper be rejected for publication or reclassified as either a Research Note or a Potential Patterns manuscript.

Hence, authors are encouraged to give thoughtful consideration beforehand regarding whether their papers initially should be submitted in the Original Research Article category. Even if these items are not rejected and authors subsequently are asked instead to consider having manuscripts reclassified, the latter step entails added time and effort for both authors and reviewers.

Some examples of why decisions are made either to reject for publication or undergo a reclassification of the type of paper are:

-Insufficient sample size.

-Concepts are introduced, but not addressed in the analysis section. Also, the Discussion section fails to follow logically from the Analysis section.

-Adequate information is lacking about the study design.

-Authors' main points are difficult to unravel to determine and there is not enough supporting data to support these points. 

-Demographic data on study participants are insufficient, which can affect generalizability of the findings.

-A study may have significant conceptual, methodological, and statistical deficiencies in all areas: sampling process, methodology, statistical analyses, and interpretations. Also, not enough information is provided to answer the "so what" about the research question. Nonetheless, the topic may be of interest to readers, warranting a conversion of the paper from a research perspective to a Commentary that has much less of a quantitative focus.

-Nowhere in the manuscript is there any indication that the model has been piloted, tested, and validated. No data are presented.

-The Methods section must state more clearly the inclusion criteria for the study sample.

-Terminology using common and familiar concepts needs to be provided for readers who represent a wide range of health professions. For example, jargon used in a particular discipline will be unfamiliar to individuals who are in different disciplines.

Manuscript Review Process

Initial Evaluation: When a manuscript is received in the office of the Journal of Allied Health, it is sent to two or three reviewers who are either members of the Editorial Board or Peer Reviewers. With a one-month turnaround time to complete the review, they can suggest one of four categories:

1. Publish as is,

2. Publish with minor revisions,

3. Publish with major revisions, or

4. Do not publish

Revisions and Editing: If there is a disagreement, the Editor makes the decision as to whether the review should continue. If the decision puts the manuscript in the publishable category, the reviewers’ comments are sent to the author for revision. Authors also are given a one-month turnaround time to make revisions.

The revised manuscript is returned to the same reviewers, along with all critiques of the manuscript. Again, they are given a one-month turnaround time for further review.

This process is continued until a final decision is made as to whether or not to publish the manuscript. Once accepted, it is placed in the queue for publication.

Overall Timeline: The average time from submission to acceptance is approximately six months. Usually, those manuscripts that are accepted first are published first. In some cases, however, a manuscript may move ahead at a faster pace if it fits with a specific theme of an issue of the Journal. Since each issue must be sent to the publisher three months prior to publication, the minimum time from submission to publication would be five months. This event, however, is exceedingly rare. A more likely scenario is eight months to one year.

Our technology partner, Ingenta, provides all Journal of Allied Health subscribers with online access to the quarterly publication at no extra charge.

Online Benefits

BENEFITS OF THE ONLINE VERSION INCLUDE:

• Users can view documents using PDF

• IP address or username/password validation

• Cross-journal searching of full text, abstracts, keywords, TOC, and references

• Document-to-document reference linking

• Active Reference Links to major Abstracting and Indexing Services and major full text publishers participating in CrossRef Document delivery service via deposit account or credit card payment

• Fast download, browsing, and printing times supported by a global network of dedicated servers

• TOC alerting service

• Helpdesk support from Ingenta

NON–SUBSCRIBER ACCESS

Alternatively, non-subscribers can purchase articles from the Journal of Allied Health online for $15 per article.

INDIVIDUALS/MEMBERs ACCESs

1. Visit: http://ingentaconnect.com/content/asahp/jah to register.

2. Enter details and choose a Username/Password if you haven’t already registered with the system.

3. Your request will be forwarded to ASAHP subscriptions for verification.

4. Shortly thereafter, you will receive an e-mail confirmation that your online subscription has been activated.*