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Journal of Child Health Care

Journal of Child Health Care

Published in Association with Association of British Paediatric Nurses

eISSN: 17412889 | ISSN: 13674935 | Current volume: 27 | Current issue: 4 Frequency: Quarterly

Journal of Child Health Care is now indexed by ISI

Calling Potential Referees!

Journal of Child Health Care is a broad ranging, international, professionally-oriented, interdisciplinary and peer reviewed journal. It focuses on issues related to the health and health care of neonates, children, young people and their families, including areas such as illness, disability, complex needs, well-being, quality of life and mental health care in a diverse range of settings. The Journal of Child Health Care publishes original theoretical, empirical and review papers which have application to a wide variety of disciplines.

"As a doctoral student, I’ve really enjoyed the Journal of Child Health Care. The topics span the health – illness spectrum, as well as health care settings. However, my favorite thing about the journal is the variety of research methods that are published. When you are learning the craft of nursing research, it’s great to see such an assortment of methods and to be able to draw from the experts in the field." Candace C. Knight, University of Alabama, USA

All issues of the Journal of Child Health Care are available to browse online.
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This journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE)

Journal of Child Health Care is now indexed by ISI!

Journal of Child Health Care is a broad ranging, international, professionally-oriented, interdisciplinary and peer reviewed journal. It focuses on issues related to the health and health care of neonates, children, young people and their families, including areas such as illness, disability, complex needs, well-being, quality of life and mental health care in a diverse range of settings. The Journal of Child Health Care publishes original theoretical, empirical and review papers which have application to a wide variety of disciplines.

Journal of Child Health Care sees children as part of the community in which we live and considers health issues arising from it. It develops the skills and knowledge base of professionals who work with children and their families, and promotes partnerships between professionals and families and between different professional groups.

Editor-in-Chief
Associate Professor Stephen McKeever Swinburne University of Technology, Australia
Editors
Dr Alina Morawska University of Queensland, Australia
Jojo Wong CUHK Nethersole School of Nursing, Hong Kong
Associate Editors: Statistics
Anneke Grobler Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, Australia
Associate Editors
Kim Atkins University of Tasmania, Australia
Mandy Brimble Cardiff University, UK
Dr Marie Clancy University of Exeter, UK
Annie Cox North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare NHS Trust, UK
Kelly Foster University of Southern Queensland, Australia
Julia Harris London South Bank University, UK
Jacqueline Jauncey-Cooke The University of Queensland, Australia
Constantinos Kanaris University of Cambridge, UK
Dr Liz King Open University, UK
Wanderson Carneiro Moreira University of São Paulo, Brazil
Jenny O’Neill Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne, Australia
Dr Roses Parker The Cochrane Collaboration, UK
Dr Tracy Pasek University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, USA
Nicole Pope University of Melbourne, Australia
Professor Jayne Price Kingston University London, UK
Alison Rodriguez University of Leeds, UK
Michael Tatterton University of Bradford, UK
Assistant Editor: Social Media
Jim Reeder The Beacon, East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust, UK
International Editorial Board
Dhan Raj Bagri J. K. Lon Hospital, Rajasthan, India
Kim Benner Samford University, McWhorter School of Pharmacy, Homewood, AL, USA
Jordon Bosse University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA
Lucy Bray Edge Hill University, UK
Nicola Brown Australian Catholic University, Australia
Agneta Anderzén Carlsson Örebro University, Sweden
Franco A. Carnevale McGill University, Canada
Annette Dickinson Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand
Danielle Edge University of Plymouth, UK
Rômulo Araujo Fernandes Sao Paulo State University, Brazil
Nicola Fielding University of Plymouth, UK
Karen Ford Royal Hobart Hospital, Australia
Linda Franck University of California, San Francisco, USA
Susanne Hwiid Klausen Rigshospitalet, Denmark
Sharon Y. Irving University of Pennsylvania, School of Nursing, USA
Debra Jackson University of Technology Sydney, Australia
Sophie Jones University of Melbourne, Australia
Steven Kairys Jersey Shore University Medical Center, USA
Anna Karani University of Nairobi, Kenya
Joseph C. Manning Nottingham Children’s Hospital/ The University of Nottingham, UK
Sarah Neill University of Plymouth, UK
Louise Newman University of Melbourne, Australia
Amy Noakes London South Bank University, UK
Avanelle Ogundipe London South Bank University, UK
Tracey Redwood University of Northampton, UK
Fanny Robichaud University of Quebec in Outaouais, Canada
Judy Rollins Georgetown University, USA
Khaled Saad Assiut University Children's Hospital, Egypt
Joan Simons Open University, UK
Maja Söderbäck Mälardalen University, Sweden
Emeritus Editor
Professor Bernadette Carter Edge Hill University, UK
  • Annals of Behavioral Medicine
  • Applied Social Sciences Index & Abstracts (ASSIA)
  • British Education Index
  • British Nursing Index
  • Child Development Abstracts & Bibliography (Ceased 2001)
  • Clarivate Analytics: Biological Abstracts
  • Combined Health Information Database (CHID)
  • Contents Pages in Education
  • Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature CINAHL
  • Current Contents / Clinical Medicine
  • Current Contents / Social and Behavioral Sciences
  • Current Contents/ Social and Behavioral Sciences
  • Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology
  • EBSCO: Communication Abstracts
  • EBSCO: Human Resources Abstracts
  • EMBASE
  • ERIC Database (Elementary & Early Childhood Education)
  • Education Index
  • Educational Research Abstracts Online - e-Psyche
  • Exceptional Children Education Resources
  • Family Index
  • Family Index Database
  • Family Studies Abstracts
  • Health & Social Care Abstracts (former Health Service Abstracts) - Ceased May 2004
  • Index Medicus
  • Index Medicus (Ceased 2004)
  • International Nursing Index
  • Journal Citation Reports Social Sciences
  • Journal Citation Reports/Social Sciences Edition
  • Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts
  • MEDLINE
  • PsycINFO
  • Psychological Abstracts
  • Research into Higher Education Abstracts
  • Risk Abstracts
  • Science Citation Index Expanded
  • Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI)
  • Social Services Abstracts
  • Social Work Abstracts
  • Sociofile
  • Sociological Abstracts
  • Sociology of Education Abstracts
  • Special Education Needs Abstracts
  • Studies on Women & Gender Abstracts
  • Technical Education and Training Abstracts
  • Worldwide Political Science Abstracts
  • e-Psyche (Ceased)
  • Manuscript Submission Guidelines: Journal of Child Health Care

    This Journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics

    Please read the guidelines below, including the statistical guidelines, then visit the Journal’s submission site http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/jchc to upload your manuscript. Please note that manuscripts not conforming to these guidelines may be returned.

    Only manuscripts of sufficient quality that meet the aims and scope of Journal of Child Health Care will be reviewed.

    There are no fees payable to submit or publish in this Journal. Open Access options are available - see section 3.3 below.

    As part of the submission process you will be required to warrant that you are submitting your original work, that you have the rights in the work, that you are submitting the work for first publication in the Journal and that it is not being considered for publication elsewhere and has not already been published elsewhere, and that you have obtained and can supply all necessary permissions for the reproduction of any copyright works not owned by you.

    1. What do we publish?
      1.1 Aims & Scope
      1.2 Article types
      1.3 Writing your paper
    2. Editorial policies
      2.1 Peer review policy
      2.2 Authorship
      2.3 Acknowledgements
      2.4 Funding
      2.5 Declaration of conflicting interests
      2.6 Informed Consent
      2.7 Ethics
      2.8 Data
    3. Publishing policies
      3.1 Publication ethics
      3.2 Contributor's publishing agreement
      3.3 Open access and author archiving
    4. Preparing your manuscript
      4.1 Formatting
      4.2 Artwork, figures and other graphics
      4.3 Statistical guidelines
      4.4 Supplementary material
      4.5 Systematic Reviews
      4.6 Reference style
      4.7 English language editing services
    5. Submitting your manuscript
      5.1 ORCID
      5.2 Information required for completing your submission
      5.3 Permissions
    6. On acceptance and publication
      6.1 Sage Production
      6.2 Online First publication
      6.3 Access to your published article
      6.4 Promoting your article
    7. Further information

     

    1. What do we publish?

    1.1 Aims & Scope

    Before submitting your manuscript to Journal of Child Health Care, please ensure you have read the Aims & Scope.

    1.2 Article Types

    The Journal of Child Health Care publishes original theoretical, empirical and systematic review papers on child health issues.

    Articles are typically between 3000-5000 words (excluding references, figures and tables). The maximum word limit (5000 words) will be rigorously adhered to and papers which are over the word limit will be returned to the authors for revision. A maximum of 50 references is allowed.

    1.3 Writing your paper

    The Sage Author Gateway has some general advice and on how to get published, plus links to further resources.

    1.3.1 Make your article discoverable

    When writing up your paper, think about how you can make it discoverable. The title, keywords and abstract are key to ensuring readers find your article through search engines such as Google. For information and guidance on how best to title your article, write your abstract and select your keywords, have a look at this page on the Gateway: How to Help Readers Find Your Article Online.

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    2. Editorial policies

    2.1 Peer review policy

    Journal of Child Health Care operates a strictly anonymized peer review process in which the reviewer's name is withheld from the author and, the author's name from the reviewer. The reviewer may at their own discretion opt to reveal their name to the author in their review but our standard policy practice is for both identities to remain concealed.

    Each manuscript is reviewed by at least two referees. All manuscripts are reviewed as rapidly as possible, and an editorial decision is generally reached within 4-6 weeks of submission.

    Decisions on manuscripts will be taken as rapidly as possible. Authors should expect to have reviewers' comments within approximately 6 weeks. In general, Editors will seek advice from two or more expert reviewers about the scientific content and presentation of submitted articles.

    All manuscripts are reviewed initially by the Editors and only those papers that meet the scientific and editorial standards of the journal, and fit within the aims and scope of the journal, will be sent for outside review.

    2.2 Authorship

    All parties who have made a substantive contribution to the article should be listed as authors. Principal authorship, authorship order, and other publication credits should be based on the relative scientific or professional contributions of the individuals involved, regardless of their status. A student is usually listed as principal author on any multiple-authored publication that substantially derives from the student’s dissertation or thesis.

    Please note that AI chatbots, for example ChatGPT, should not be listed as authors. For more information see the policy on Use of ChatGPT and generative AI tools.

    2.3 Acknowledgements

    All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in an Acknowledgements section. Examples of those who might be acknowledged include a person who provided purely technical help, or a department chair who provided only general support.

    Any acknowledgements should appear first at the end of your article prior to your Declaration of Conflicting Interests (if applicable), any notes and your References.

    2.3.1 Third party submissions

    Where an individual who is not listed as an author submits a manuscript on behalf of the author(s), a statement must be included in the Acknowledgements section of the manuscript and in the accompanying cover letter. The statements must:

    •    Disclose this type of editorial assistance – including the individual’s name, company and level of input 
    •    Identify any entities that paid for this assistance 
    •    Confirm that the listed authors have authorized the submission of their manuscript via third party and approved any statements or declarations, e.g. conflicting interests, funding, etc.

    Where appropriate, Sage reserves the right to deny consideration to manuscripts submitted by a third party rather than by the authors themselves.

    2.4 Funding

    Journal of Child Health Care requires all authors to acknowledge their funding in a consistent fashion under a separate heading.  Please visit the Funding Acknowledgements page on the Sage Journal Author Gateway to confirm the format of the acknowledgment text in the event of funding, or state that: This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

    2.5 Declaration of conflicting interests

    Journal of Child Health Care encourages authors to include a declaration of any conflicting interests and recommends you review the good practice guidelines on the Sage Journal Author Gateway.

    2.6 Informed Consent

    Submitted manuscripts should be arranged according to the "Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals". The full document is available at http://icmje.org. When submitting a paper, the author should always make a full statement to the Editor about all submissions and previous reports that might be regarded as redundant or duplicate publication of the same or very similar work.

    Ethical considerations: All research on human subjects must have been approved by the appropriate research body in accordance with national requirements and must conform to the principles embodied in the Declaration of Helsinki (http:/www.wma.net) as well as to the International Ethical Guidelines for Biomedical Research Involving Human Subjects and the International Guidelines for Ethical Review for Epidemiological Studies (http:/www.cioms.ch). An appropriate statement about ethical considerations, if applicable, should be included in the methods section of the paper.

    2.7 Ethics

    When reporting experiments on human subjects, indicate whether the procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional or regional) or with the Declaration of Helsinki 1975, revised Hong Kong 1989. Do not use patients' names, initials or hospital numbers, especially in illustrative material. When reporting experiments on animals, indicate which guideline/law on the care and use of laboratory animals was followed.

    2.8 Data

    Sage acknowledges the importance of research data availability as an integral part of the research and verification process for academic journal articles.

    Journal of Child Health Care requests all authors submitting any primary data used in their research articles alongside their article submissions to be published in the online version of the journal, or provide detailed information in their articles on how the data can be obtained. This information should include links to third-party data repositories or detailed contact information for third-party data sources. Data available only on an author-maintained website will need to be loaded onto either the journal’s platform or a third-party platform to ensure continuing accessibility. Examples of data types include but are not limited to statistical data files, replication code, text files, audio files, images, videos, appendices, and additional charts and graphs necessary to understand the original research. The editor(s) can also grant exceptions for data that cannot legally or ethically be released. All data submitted should comply with Institutional or Ethical Review Board requirements and applicable government regulations. For further information, please contact the editorial office at chc.pra@sagepub.com.

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    3. Publishing Policies

    3.1 Publication ethics

    Sage is committed to upholding the integrity of the academic record. We encourage authors to refer to the Committee on Publication Ethics’ International Standards for Authors and view the Publication Ethics page on the Sage Author Gateway.

    3.1.1 Plagiarism

    Journal of Child Health Care and Sage take issues of copyright infringement, plagiarism or other breaches of best practice in publication very seriously. We seek to protect the rights of our authors and we always investigate claims of plagiarism or misuse of published articles. Equally, we seek to protect the reputation of the journal against malpractice. Submitted articles may be checked with duplication-checking software. Where an article, for example, is found to have plagiarised other work or included third-party copyright material without permission or with insufficient acknowledgement, or where the authorship of the article is contested, we reserve the right to take action including, but not limited to: publishing an erratum or corrigendum (correction); retracting the article; taking up the matter with the head of department or dean of the author's institution and/or relevant academic bodies or societies; or taking appropriate legal action.

    3.1.2 Prior publication

    If material has been previously published it is not generally acceptable for publication in a Sage journal. However, there are certain circumstances where previously published material can be considered for publication. Please refer to the guidance on the Sage Author Gateway or if in doubt, contact the Editor at the address given below.

    3.2 Contributor's publishing agreement

    Before publication, Sage requires the author as the rights holder to sign a Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement. Sage’s Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement is an exclusive licence agreement which means that the author retains copyright in the work but grants Sage the sole and exclusive right and licence to publish for the full legal term of copyright. Exceptions may exist where an assignment of copyright is required or preferred by a proprietor other than Sage. In this case copyright in the work will be assigned from the author to the society. For more information please visit the Sage Author Gateway.

    3.3 Open access and author archiving

    Journal of Child Health Care offers optional open access publishing via the Sage Choice programme and Open Access agreements, where authors can publish open access either discounted or free of charge depending on the agreement with Sage. Find out if your institution is participating by visiting Open Access Agreements at Sage. For more information on Open Access publishing options at Sage please visit Sage Open Access. For information on funding body compliance, and depositing your article in repositories, please visit Sage’s Author Archiving and Re-Use Guidelines and Publishing Policies.

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    4. Preparing your manuscript for submission

    4.1 Formatting

    The preferred format for your manuscript is Word. LaTeX files are also accepted. Word and (La)Tex templates are available on the Manuscript Submission Guidelines page of our Author Gateway.

    4.2 Artwork, figures and other graphics

    For guidance on the preparation of illustrations, pictures and graphs in electronic format, please visit Sage’s Manuscript Submission Guidelines.

    Figures supplied in colour will appear in colour online regardless of whether or not these illustrations are reproduced in colour in the printed version. For specifically requested colour reproduction in print, you will receive information regarding the costs from Sage after receipt of your accepted article.

    4.3 Statistical Gudielines

    The statistical guidelines can be found here. Please refer to these guidelines before submitting your paper.

    4.4 Supplementary material

    This journal is able to host additional materials online (e.g. datasets, podcasts, videos, images etc) alongside the full-text of the article. For more information please refer to our guidelines on submitting supplementary files.

    4.5 Systematic Reviews

    When submitting a systematic review please include a completed PRISMA checklist with your submission. A link to the checklist can be found here

    4.6 Reference style

    Journal of Child Health Care adheres to the Sage Harvard reference style. View the Sage Harvard guidelines to ensure your manuscript conforms to this reference style.

    If you use EndNote to manage references, you can download the Sage Harvard EndNote output file.

    4.7 English language editing services

    Authors seeking assistance with English language editing, translation, or figure and manuscript formatting to fit the journal’s specifications should consider using Sage Language Services. Visit Sage Language Services on our Journal Author Gateway for further information.

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    5. Submitting your manuscript

    Journal of Child Health Care is hosted on Sage Track, a web based online submission and peer review system powered by ScholarOne™ Manuscripts. Visit http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/jchc to login and submit your article online.

    IMPORTANT: Please check whether you already have an account in the system before trying to create a new one. If you have reviewed or authored for the journal in the past year it is likely that you will have had an account created.  For further guidance on submitting your manuscript online please visit ScholarOne Online Help.

    5.1 ORCID

    As part of our commitment to ensuring an ethical, transparent and fair peer review process Sage is a supporting member of ORCID, the Open Researcher and Contributor ID. ORCID provides a unique and persistent digital identifier that distinguishes researchers from every other researcher, even those who share the same name, and, through integration in key research workflows such as manuscript and grant submission, supports automated linkages between researchers and their professional activities, ensuring that their work is recognized.

    The collection of ORCID iDs from corresponding authors is now part of the submission process of this journal. If you already have an ORCID iD you will be asked to associate that to your submission during the online submission process. We also strongly encourage all co-authors to link their ORCID ID to their accounts in our online peer review platforms. It takes seconds to do: click the link when prompted, sign into your ORCID account and our systems are automatically updated. Your ORCID iD will become part of your accepted publication’s metadata, making your work attributable to you and only you. Your ORCID iD is published with your article so that fellow researchers reading your work can link to your ORCID profile and from there link to your other publications.

    If you do not already have an ORCID iD please follow this link to create one or visit our ORCID homepage to learn more.

    5.2 Information required for completing your submission

    You will be asked to provide contact details and academic affiliations for all co-authors via the submission system and identify who is to be the corresponding author. These details must match what appears on your manuscript. At this stage please ensure you have included all the required statements and declarations and uploaded any additional supplementary files (including reporting guidelines where relevant).

    5.3 Permissions

    Please also ensure that you have obtained any necessary permission from copyright holders for reproducing any illustrations, tables, figures or lengthy quotations previously published elsewhere. For further information including guidance on fair dealing for criticism and review, please see the Copyright and Permissions page on the Sage Author Gateway.

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    6. On acceptance and publication

    6.1 Sage Production

    Your Sage Production Editor will keep you informed as to your article’s progress throughout the production process. Proofs will be sent by PDF to the corresponding author and should be returned promptly.  Authors are reminded to check their proofs carefully to confirm that all author information, including names, affiliations, sequence and contact details are correct, and that Funding and Conflict of Interest statements, if any, are accurate. 

    6.2 Online First publication

    Online First allows final articles (completed and approved articles awaiting assignment to a future issue) to be published online prior to their inclusion in a journal issue, which significantly reduces the lead time between submission and publication. Visit the Sage Journals help page for more details, including how to cite Online First articles.

    6.3 Access to your published article

    Sage provides authors with online access to their final article.

    6.4 Promoting your article

    Publication is not the end of the process! You can help disseminate your paper and ensure it is as widely read and cited as possible. The Sage Author Gateway has numerous resources to help you promote your work. Visit the Promote Your Article page on the Gateway for tips and advice.

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    7. Further information

    Any correspondence, queries or additional requests for information on the manuscript submission process should be sent to the Journal of Child Health Care editorial office as follows:

    chc.pra@sagepub.com

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