Journal of Primary Care & Community Health
Journal Highlights
- Indexed In: PubMed/MEDLINE and the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)
- Publication is subject to payment of an article processing charge (APC)
- Submit here
Journal of Primary Care & Community Health (JPC) is a peer-reviewed open access journal which focusses on the study, practice, impact and outcomes of primary care services and community health programs. Please see the Aims and Scope tab for further information.
This journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
Submission Information
Submit your manuscript today at https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/jpc.
Please see the Submission Guidelines tab for more information on how to submit your article to the journal.
Open access article processing charge (APC) information
Publication in the journal is subject to payment of an article processing charge (APC). The APC serves to support the journal and ensures that articles are freely accessible online in perpetuity under a Creative Commons licence.
The APC for this journal is currently to 2500 USD.
The article processing charge (APC) is payable when a manuscript is accepted after peer review, before it is published. The APC is subject to taxes where applicable. Please see further details here.
This journal changed its publication mode from subscription to open access in 2016.
Journal of Primary Care and Community Health publishes peer-reviewed evidence about the practice, impact and outcomes of primary care services and community health programs. Evidence in the form of hypothesis-testing studies is presented, either in the form of pilot projects or larger intervention projects. The aims of providing a forum for these projects are to facilitate exchange of new information and approaches to assessing performance and to bridge the gap between medicine and public health at the grass-roots level, where primary care and community work hand in hand.
Papers address the following topics:
• Accessibility of services and programs to vulnerable groups
• Delivery of screening tests
• Compliance with medications
• Unplanned return visits, referral to specialists or avoidable hospital admissions
• Informatics in primary care
• Over-use of primary care or community health services
• Client or patient satisfaction
• Change in knowledge, attitudes or intended behavior
• Change of a lifestyle change program
• Cost per client of community health interventions compared to alternatives. Targeted behaviors
might be unprotected sexual activity, abuse of drugs or alcohol, over-eating, physical activity, obesity,
smoking or other health risks.
• Change in morbidity, such as reduced infection rates, reduced rates of low birth weight deliveries,
reduced prematurity, and reduced infant mortality
• Change in self-rated health, disability and/or frequent mental distress (FMD)
Why submit your research to JPC?
- We encourages submissions that involve retrospective multivariate analysis of electronic medical records.
- Studies of one medical care system are welcome, as well as population based studies.
- Rigorous systematic reviews are of interest to our readers.
- Quasi-experimental studies of community health programs also are encouraged.
The audience is primary care providers and community health professionals who study their own patients for the purpose of promoting health and preventing disease. Physicians, allied health professionals, community health educators, and epidemiologists who study health behavior and health outcomes will find the content relevant and useful to their daily activities.
| Kurt Angstman, MD | Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA |
| Gregory M. Garrison, MD | Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA |
| Meghan Theofiles, MD | Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA |
| James E. Rohrer, PhD | Walden University, Minneapolis, MN, USA |
| Ahmed A. Arif, MBBS, PhD, CPH, FACE | University of North Carolina, Charlotte, NC, USA |
| Mario Schootman, PhD | SSM Health, St. Louis, MO, USA |
| Jayasree Basu, PhD | US Department of Health and Human Services, USA |
| Abdulbari Bener, PhD, FFPH, FRSS | Istanbul Medipol University, Istanbul, Turkey |
| Antonio Chuh, MD | The University of Hong Kong and The Chinese University of Hong Kong, China |
| Jeanette M. Daly, RN, PhD | University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA |
| Claudia Der-Martirosian, PhD | U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, USA |
| Yusuf Cetin Doganer, MD | University of Health Sciences, Gulhane Medical Faculty, Ankara, Turkey |
| Michael L. Grover, D.O. | Mayo Clinic, Phoenix, AZ, USA |
| Jodi Holtrop, PhD, CHES | University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO, USA |
| Barcey T. Levy, PhD, MD | University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA |
| Brian Lynch, MD | Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA |
| Meghna Mansukhani, MD | Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA |
| Christina Marini, MPH | NYU Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY USA |
| Daniel Nagel, RN, PhD | University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada |
| Kenneth Nugent, MD | Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Lubbock, TX, USA |
| José A. Pagán, PhD | New York University, New York, NY, USA |
| Patrick Palmieri, DHSc, DPhil (Hon), EdS, MBA, MSN, PGDip(Oxon), ACNP, RN, CPHRM, CPHQ, FACHE, FISQu | Norbert Wiener Private University, Lima, Peru |
| Shailendra Prasad, MD, MPH | University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA |
| Kathleen Rice, PhD | McGill University, Montréal, QC, Canada |
| Robert Rick PhD, MPH, PE | Minnesota State, Takoda Institute, Minneapolis |
| Michael Schirmer, MD | Innsbruck Medical University, Innsbruck, Austria |
| Zuzana Segev | Lee Memorial Hospital, Ft. Myers, Fl, USA |
| Yogarabindranath Swarna Nantha | Monash University Clinical School, Malaysia |
| Jim Warren, PhD | University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand |
| Lara Weinstein, MD, MPH | Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, PA, USA |
| Barbara Yawn, MD | University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA |
This Journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics.
This Journal recommends that authors follow the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals formulated by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).
Please read the guidelines below then visit the journal’s submission site to upload your manuscript. Please note that manuscripts not conforming to these guidelines may be returned.
Sage Publishing disseminates high-quality research and engaged scholarship globally, and we are committed to diversity and inclusion in publishing. We encourage submissions from a diverse range of authors from across all countries and backgrounds.
Only manuscripts of sufficient quality that meet the aims and scope of Journal of Primary Care and Community Health will be reviewed.
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.
Please read the Manuscript Submission Guidelines below before submitting your manuscript here:
SUBMIT MANUSCRIPT
- Open Access
- Article processing charge (APC)
- What do we publish?
3.1 Aims & scope
3.2 Article types
3.3 Writing your paper
3.3.1 Making your article discoverable - Editorial policies
4.1 Peer Review Policy
4.2 Authorship
4.3 Acknowledgements
4.4 Funding
4.5 Declaration of conflicting interests
4.6 Research ethics and patient consent
4.7 Clinical Trials
4.8 Reporting guidelines - Publishing policies
5.1 Publication ethics
5.2 Contributor's publishing agreement - Preparing your manuscript
6.1 Word processing formats
6.2 Artwork, figures and other graphics
6.3 Supplementary material
6.4 Reference style
6.5 English language editing services - Submitting your manuscript
7.1 How to submit your manuscript
7.2 Title, keywords and abstracts
7.3 Information required for completing your submission
7.4 ORCID
7.5 Permissions - On acceptance and publication
8.1 Sage Production
8.2 Continuous publication
8.3 Promoting your article - Further information
Journal of Primary Care and Community Health is an open access, peer-reviewed journal. Each article
accepted by peer review is made freely available online immediately upon publication, is published
under a Creative Commons license and will be hosted online in perpetuity. Publication costs of the
journal are covered by the collection of article processing charges which are paid by the funder,
institution or author of each manuscript upon acceptance. There is no charge for submitting a paper to
the journal.
For general information on open access at Sage please visit the Open Access page or view our Open
Access FAQs.
2. Article processing charge (APC)
The Journal of Primary Care and Community Health publishes all content open access and is supported
by an Article Processing Charge (APC). Authors paying the APC will enjoy the benefits of immediate, full
open access publishing and will utilize one of the Creative Commons licenses which enable them to
retain copyright.
Please note: The APC for this journal is $2500.
The article processing charge (APC) is payable only if your article is accepted after peer review, before it is published. The APC is subject to taxes where applicable. Tax-exempt status can be indicated by providing appropriate registration numbers when payment is requested. Please see further details here.
Before submitting your manuscript to Journal of Primary Care and Community Health, please
ensure you have read the Aims & Scope.
Case Studies / Literature Reviews – 2,000 - 2,500 words, no more than 2 tables. These are organization case studies,case reports, and systemic literature reviews.
Pilot Studies – 2,000 - 2,500 words. Use appropriate tables and figures for the research. Brief reports about single-site studies are typical of this section. Studies should not be under-powered and should include a comparison
group.
Commentaries – 2000 - 2,500 words, no tables
Original research – 2,000 - 2,500 words. Use appropriate tables and figures for the research. Please include a structured abstract: Introduction/Objectives, Methods, Results and Conclusions. The manuscript should be structured with an Introduction (which gives the background, gaps in knowledge and objectives for the study); Methods; Results; Discussion and Conclusions. Unless absolutely needed, sub-headings should not be utilized in each of these areas, and if they are should not be numbered.
NOTE: Word counts are suggested but not limiting.
Letter to the Editor – No more than 1000 words, no figures or tables. Letters to the Editor commenting on a previously published paper in JPCCH should be submitted through our usual submission process. These letters are generally not peer reviewed, but your letter may be peer reviewed at the option of the Editor in Chief. Letters to the Editor will be shared with the original authors, and they will be allowed a response to the submitted Letter to the Editor, if they desire. There is no APC for a Letter to the Editor. In cases where the Letter to the Editor exceeds 1000 words, the Editor in Chief may ask the author to change an extensive letter to a full manuscript submission with peer review, which will require an APC.
All of the above require a structured abstract except commentaries and letters to the editor, which can include a summary as the first paragraph.
Citations should be numbered in AMA style (using superscript after punctuaton). A citation program such as EndNote should be used.
The Sage Author Gateway has some general advice and on how to get published, plus links to further resources. Sage Author Services also offers authors a variety of ways to improve and enhance their article including English language editing, plagiarism detection, and video abstract and infographic preparation.
3.3.1 Making 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
Sage does not permit the use of author-suggested (recommended) reviewers at any stage of the submission process, be that through the web-based submission system or other communication. Reviewers should be experts in their fields and should be able to provide an objective assessment of the manuscript. Our policy is that reviewers should not be assigned to a paper if:
• The reviewer is based at the same institution as any of the co-authors
• The reviewer is based at the funding body of the paper
• The author has recommended the reviewer
• The reviewer has provided a personal (e.g. Gmail/Yahoo/Hotmail) email account and an institutional email account cannot be found after performing a basic Google search (name, department and institution).
Papers should only be submitted for consideration once consent is given by all contributing
authors. Those submitting papers should carefully check that all those whose work contributed
to the paper are acknowledged as contributing authors.
The list of authors should include all those who can legitimately claim authorship. This is all
those who:
(i) Made a substantial contribution to the concept or design of the work; or acquisition,
analysis or interpretation of data,
(ii) Drafted the article or revised it critically for important intellectual content,
(iii) Approved the version to be published,
(iv) Each author should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public
responsibility for appropriate portions of the content.
Authors should meet the conditions of all of the points above. Each author should have
participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the
content.
When a large, multicentre group has conducted the work, the group should identify the
individuals who accept direct responsibility for the manuscript. These individuals should fully
meet the criteria for authorship.
Acquisition of funding, collection of data, or general supervision of the research group alone
does not constitute authorship, although all contributors who do not meet the criteria for
authorship should be listed in the Acknowledgments section. Please refer to the International
Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) authorship guidelines for more information on
authorship.
ChatGPT and Generative AI: AI bots and tools such as ChatGPT cannot be listed as an author. If authors have used AI-generated content in their paper, this must be disclosed in the Acknowledgements section. Sage’s full policy on generative AI tools can be found here.
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.
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.
4.3.1 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.
4.3.2 Writing assistance
Individuals who provided writing assistance, e.g. from a specialist communications company, do
not qualify as authors and so should be included in the Acknowledgements section. Authors
must disclose any writing assistance – including the individual’s name, company and level of
input – and identify the entity that paid for this assistance.
It is not necessary to disclose use of language polishing services.
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.
4.3.4 Identifiable Information
Where a journal uses double-anonymize peer review, authors are required to submit:
1. A version of the manuscript which has had any information that compromises the anonymity of the author(s) removed or anonymised. This version will be sent to the peer reviewers.
2. A separate title page which includes any removed or anonymised material. This will not be sent to the peer reviewers.
See https://sagepub.com/Manuscript-preparation-for-double-anonymize-journal for detailed guidance on making an anonymous submission.
Journal of Primary Care and Community Health 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.
4.5 Declaration of conflicting interests
It is the policy of Journal of Primary Care and Community Health to require a declaration of
conflicting interests from all authors enabling a statement to be carried within the paginated
pages of all published articles.
Please ensure that a ‘Declaration of Conflicting Interests’ statement is included at the end of
your manuscript, after any acknowledgements and prior to the references. If no conflict exists,
please state that ‘The Author(s) declare(s) that there is no conflict of interest’.
For guidance on conflict of interest statements, please see the ICMJE recommendations.
4.6 Research ethics and patient consent
Medical research involving human subjects must be conducted according to the World Medical
Association Declaration of Helsinki.
Submitted manuscripts should conform to the ICMJE Recommendations for the Conduct,
Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals, and all papers
reporting animal and/or human studies must state in the methods section that the relevant
Ethics Committee or Institutional Review Board provided (or waived) approval. Please ensure
that you have provided the full name and institution of the review committee, in addition to the
approval number.
For research articles, authors are also required to state in the methods section whether
participants provided informed consent and whether the consent was written or verbal.
Information on informed consent to report individual cases or case series should be included in
the manuscript text. A statement is required regarding whether written informed consent for
patient information and images to be published was provided by the patient(s) or a legally
authorized representative.
Please also refer to the ICMJE Recommendations for the Protection of Research Participants
All research involving animals submitted for publication must be approved by an ethics committee with oversight of the facility in which the studies were conducted. The Journal has adopted the ARRIVE guidelines.
Journal of Primary Care and Community Health conforms to the ICMJE requirement that clinical
trials are registered in a WHO-approved public trials registry at or before the time of first patient
enrolment as a condition of consideration for publication. The trial registry name and URL, and
registration number must be included at the end of the abstract.
The relevant EQUATOR Network reporting guidelines should be followed depending on the type
of study. For example, all randomized controlled trials submitted for publication should include
a completed CONSORT flow chart as a cited figure and the completed CONSORT checklist should
be uploaded with your submission as a supplementary file. Systematic reviews and metaanalyses
should include the completed PRISMA flow chart as a cited figure and the completed
PRISMA checklist should be uploaded with your submission as a supplementary file. The
EQUATOR wizard can help you identify the appropriate guideline.
Other resources can be found at NLM’s Research Reporting Guidelines and Initiatives.
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.
5.1.1 Plagiarism
Journal of Primary Care and Community Health 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 plagiarized 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.
5.1.2 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.
5.2 Contributor's publishing agreement
Before publication Sage requires the author as the rights holder to sign a Journal Contributor’s
Publishing Agreement. Journal of Primary Care and Community Health publishes manuscripts
under Creative Commons licenses. The standard license for the journal is Creative Commons by
Attribution Non-Commercial (CC BY-NC), which allows others to re-use the work without
permission as long as the work is properly referenced and the use is non-commercial. For more
information, you are advised to visit Sage's OA licenses page
Alternative license arrangements are available, for example, to meet particular funder
mandates, made at the author’s request.
The preferred formats for your manuscripts are Word, RTF, XLS. LaTeX files are also accepted.
Word and (La)Tex templates are available on the Manuscript Submission Guidelines page of our
Author Gateway. The text should be double-spaced throughout and with a minimum of 3cm for
left and right hand margins and 5cm at head and foot. Text should be standard 10 or 12 point.
6.2 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 color will appear in color online.
This journal is able to host additional materials online (e.g. datasets, podcasts, videos, images
etc.) alongside the full-text of the article. These will be subjected to peer-review alongside the
article. For more information please refer to our guidelines on submitting supplementary files,
which can be found within our Manuscript Submission Guidelines page.
Journal of Primary Care and Community Health adheres to the AMA reference style. Please review the guidelines on
AMA to ensure your manuscript conforms to this reference style.
If you use EndNote to manage references, you can download the AMA output file here. Citations should be numbered in AMA style (using superscript after punctuation).
6.5 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.
7.1 How to submit your manuscript
Journal of Primary Care and Community Health is hosted on Sage Track, a web based online
submission and peer review system powered by ScholarOne™ Manuscripts. Visit
https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/jpc 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.
7.2 Title, keywords and abstracts
Please supply a title, short title, an abstract and keywords to accompany your article. The title,
keywords and abstract are key to ensuring readers find your article online through online search
engines such as Google. Please refer to the information and guidance on how best to title your
article, write your abstract and select your keywords by visiting the Sage Journal Author
Gateway for guidelines on How to Help Readers Find Your Article Online.
7.3 Information required for completing your submission
Provide full contact details for the corresponding author including email, mailing address and
telephone numbers. Academic affiliations are required for all co-authors. These details should
be presented separately to the main text of the article to facilitate anonymous peer review.
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).
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.
Authors are responsible for obtaining 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 visit our
Frequently Asked Questions on the Sage Journal Author Gateway.
8. On acceptance and publication
If your paper is accepted for publication after peer review, you will first be asked to complete the
contributor’s publishing agreement. Once your manuscript files have been checked for Sage Production,
the corresponding author will be asked to pay the article processing charge (APC) via a payment link.
Once the APC has been processed, your article will be prepared for publication and can appear online
within an average of 30 days. Please note that no production work will occur on your paper until the
APC has been received.
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.
One of the many benefits of publishing your research in an open access journal is the speed to
publication. With no page count constraints, your article will be published online in a fully
citable form with a DOI number as soon as it has completed the production process. At this time
it will be completely free to view and download for all.
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.
Any correspondence, queries or additional requests for information on the Manuscript Submission
process should be sent to Sage Customer Service.