Manuscripts submitted to the JNHPR as original research, systematic review and/or meta-analysis, research protocol, case report, or short communication article types should contain the following sections:

 

Title page

Abstract

Keywords

Introduction

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusions

List of Abbreviations Used (if any)

Conflicts of Interest

Ethics Approval and/or Participant Consent

Authors' Contributions

Acknowledgements

Funding

References

 

If your manuscript will contain any of the following, please also read these instruction sections carefully:

 

Figures

Tables

Supplemental Files

 

Please note the differences in what each section should contain based on article type as follows in each manuscript secton below:

 

Title Page

Original Research Articles, Systematic Reviews and/or Meta-Analyses, Research Protocols, Case Reports and Short Communications: The Title Page should provide the 1) full title of the article, 2) full names, academic degrees, institutional affiliations and addresses, and email addresses for all authors, 3) an indication of the corresponding author. Only the first letter of the first word of the title and after each colon, and proper nouns should be capitalized. Please do not use abbreviations in your title. Authorship should be assigned based on the recommendations made by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE); individuals who do not meet authorship criteria should instead be listed in the Acknowledgements section of the manuscript.

 

Title

Original research articles: The Title of your article should clearly describe your intervention.

Review articles: The Title of your article should clearly describe your review topic. Review articles should end with “: A [literature or scoping or systematic] review”.

Research protocol articles: The Title of your article should clearly describe your research protocol. Research protocol article titles should end with “: A research protocol”.

All other article types: The Title of your article should clearly describe your topic.

 

Abstract

Original Research Articles, Systematic Reviews and/or Meta-Analyses, Research Protocols, Case Reports and Short Communications: The Abstract should not exceed 350 words and may or may not be structured into separate sections. The Abstract must, however, contain information pertinent to your manuscript’s Introduction (the context and purpose of your study), Methods (how the study was performed and statistical tests used), Results (a summary of main findings), Discussion (a summarized analysis of your findings) and Conclusion (study implications and future directions). Please minimize use of abbreviations and do not cite any references in your Abstract.

 

Keywords

Original Research Articles, Systematic Reviews and/or Meta-Analyses, Research Protocols, Case Reports and Short Communications: Provide three to ten keywords representing the main content of the article, each keyword separated by a semicolon (i.e. cancer; biology; genomics).

The body of the article spanning from the beginning of the Introduction to the end of the Conclusion should not exceed 6000 words.

 

Introduction

Original Research Articles, Systematic Reviews and/or Meta-Analyses, Research Protocols, Case Reports and Short Communications: The Introduction section should be written so that it is understandable to other researchers outside of your field’s discipline, and summarize the background and aims of your research project. Clinical studies, where appropriate, should include a summary of a literature search undertaken to indicate the justification of the study and what it aimed to contribute to the field. The Introduction section should end with a statement of the research question the study sought to answer.

 

Methods

Original Research Articles, Systematic Reviews and/or Meta-Analyses, Research Protocols, Case Reports and Short Communications: The Methods section should highlight the study’s design, setting, participants and/or materials involved, all interventions and comparisons, and the type of analysis used, including a power calculation if appropriate. Generic drug names, Latin and common name for herbs, biochemical nomenclature for vitamins/minerals, and reporting in standard international equivalency units should generally be used. When proprietary brands are used in research, include the brand names in parentheses in the Methods section. Based on the study conducted, reporting guidelines must be in line with the following: http://www.equator-network.org/. Randomized controlled trials also incorporate the Herbal Medicinal Interventions extension: http://www.consort-statement.org/extensions?ContentWidgetId=557

 

Results

Original research, review, case report, and short communication articles: The Results section should present the key findings of your research without interpreting their meaning. Results of statistical analysis should include, where appropriate, relative and absolute risks or risk reductions, and confidence intervals.

Research protocol articles: Understandably, the Results for a protocol may be a very brief summary of progress to date. It can include, but certainly does not have to be limited to, recruitment/enrolment status, the study timeline, and when results are expected. If no results are yet available, this section may be removed before the manuscript is submitted to the journal.

 

Discussion

Original research, review, case report, and short communication articles: The Discussion section should analyze and interpret your results reported in the previous section, notably in relation to already available knowledge/literature. New outcomes not reported in the results should not be reported in the discussion. Given that the JNHPR publishes multidisciplinary research, if appropriate, the “Results” and “Discussion” sections may be combined.

Research protocol articles: The Discussion section should discuss how the results reported in the previous section will be analyzed and interpreted. Given that the JNHPR publishes multidisciplinary research, if appropriate, the “Results” and “Discussion” sections may be combined.

 

Conclusions

Original research, review, case report, and short communication articles: The Conclusions section should clearly state the main conclusions of your study, provide an explanation of the study’s importance to the field, identify any new research questions that arose from conducting the study, and outline future directions where applicable.

Research protocol articles: The Conclusions section should clearly state the main intent of publishing the protocol, provide an explanation of the study’s importance to the field, identify any new research questions that arose from preparing/conducting the study, and outline future directions where applicable.

 

List of Abbreviations Used (If Any)

Original Research Articles, Systematic Reviews and/or Meta-Analyses, Research Protocols, Case Reports and Short Communications: If abbreviations are used in the text they should be defined in the text at first use written in full with the abbreviation in parentheses. A complete list of all abbreviations used should be provided in a section called List of Abbreviations directly following the Conclusions section.

 

Conflicts of Interest

Original Research Articles, Systematic Reviews and/or Meta-Analyses, Research Protocols, Case Reports and Short Communications: The “Conflicts of Interest” section should declare any real, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest between the duties or responsibilities related to research, and personal, institutional or other interests associated with each author. Conflicts of interest can exist when an author’s interpretation of data or presentation of information may be influenced by their personal or financial relationship with other people or organizations. If all authors have no conflicts of interest, please state “The author(s) declare that they have no conflicts of interest.” In any case, please explicitly state which authors do and do not have conflicts of interest so that this is made clear to the reader.

 

Ethics Approval and/or Participant Consent

Original Research Articles, Systematic Reviews and/or Meta-Analyses, Research Protocols, Case Reports and Short Communications: If the study reported in your manuscript required review by your institution's research ethics board (REB), please provide the details in this section. If your study involved human participants, please describe the steps taken to gain the consent of the study participants. If your study did not require ethics approval and/or participant consent (i.e. a review) please briefly explain why.

 

Authors' Contributions

Original Research Articles, Systematic Reviews and/or Meta-Analyses, Research Protocols, Case Reports and Short Communications: The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) states that there are four main criteria that constitute authorship on research article as follows:

  1. Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND
  2. Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; AND
  3. Final approval of the version to be published; AND
  4. Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

 

Please outline the contributions made by each author using the following format, where each author is referred to by their initials:

ABC: made contributions to the design of the study, collected and analysed data, drafted the manuscript, revised the manuscript critically, and gave final approval of the version to be published.

DEF: contributed to study design and planning, assisted with the collection and analysis of data, and gave final approval of the version to be published.

GHI: made substantial contributions to the design of the study, the collection of data as well as interpretation and analysis of the data, revised the manuscript critically, and gave final approval of the version to be published.

If a contributor did not meet the criteria for authorship, they should be listed in the Acknowledgements section.

 

Acknowledgements

Original Research Articles, Systematic Reviews and/or Meta-Analyses, Research Protocols, Case Reports and Short Communications: Please acknowledge anyone who contributed towards the article but did not meet the criteria for authorship. Examples of such contributors include those who provided purely technical help, writing assistance, a department chair who provided only general support, or those who contributed as part of a large collaboration group. Authors should obtain permission to acknowledge all those mentioned in the Acknowledgements section.

 

Funding

Original Research Articles, Systematic Reviews and/or Meta-Analyses, Research Protocols, Case Reports and Short Communications: Please include all funding sources associated with your study. If the study was unfunded, please state “This study was not funded”.

 

References

Original Research Articles, Systematic Reviews and/or Meta-Analyses, Research Protocols, Case Reports and Short Communications: All references, including URLs, must be numbered consecutively, in square brackets, in the order in which they are cited in the text, followed by any in tables or legends. Each reference must have an individual reference number. If automatic numbering systems are used, the reference numbers must be finalized and the bibliography must be fully formatted before submission. Note: In accordance with CrossRef, for cited journal articles please ensure that you report the hyperlink as a DOI weblink and NOT a weblink from the journal’s webpage (i.e. https://doi.org/10.xxxxx/jnhpr.## and NOT https://jnhpresearch.com/index.php/jnhpr/article/view/##). To speed up your referencing process, use the CrossRef free DOI lookup: https://www.crossref.org/guestquery/.

The JNHPR follows the reference style outlined by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) also known as the Vancouver citation style. Some cited examples are provided below:

 

Standard journal articles

Singh SR, Levine MA. Potential interactions between pharmaceuticals and natural health products in Canada. J Clin Pharmacol. 2007 Feb;47(2):249-58. https://doi.org/10.1177/0091270006296421

Murty M. Postmarket surveillance of natural health products in Canada: Clinical and federal regulatory perspectives. Can J Physiol Pharm. 2007 Sep;85(9):952-5. https://doi.org/10.1139/Y07-085

 

Complete book, authored

Dewick PM. Medicinal natural products: a biosynthetic approach. John Wiley & Sons; 2002 Jan 3.

 

Website

Government of Canada [Internet]. Natural and Non-prescription Health Products Directorate [cited 2018 Oct 15]. Available from: https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/corporate/about-health-canada/branches-agencies/health-products-food-branch/natural-non-prescription-health-products-directorate.html

 

For more examples of Vancouver citation style, please see: https://www.bma.org.uk/library/library-guide/reference-styles

 

Figures (if any)

Original Research Articles, Systematic Reviews and/or Meta-Analyses, Research Protocols, Case Reports and Short Communications: Figures should be provided where it should be displayed in the word document text file. Each figure should be able to fit on a single page in portrait format, and they should be numbered in the order in which they appear cited in the manuscript (i.e. Figure 1, Figure 2, etc.). Each figure must be accompanied with a caption directly below it. Please note that the JNHPR only publishes articles in online formats, and therefore, there are no additional charges for the use of color figures. Important: It is the responsibility of the author(s) to obtain permission from the copyright holder to reproduce figures that have previously been published elsewhere, which should be scanned and emailed to the editorial office in case of acceptance together with your Publication Agreement Form.

 

Tables

Original Research Articles, Systematic Reviews and/or Meta-Analyses, Research Protocols, Case Reports and Short Communications: Tables should also be provided where it should be displayed in the word document text file. Each table should be able to fit on a single page in portrait format, and they should be numbered in the order in which they appear cited in the manuscript (i.e. Table 1, Table 2, etc.). Each figure must be accompanied with a caption directly above it. All tables should be formatted using the “Table object” (i.e. Insert > Table) in a Microsoft Word to ensure that columns of data are kept aligned when the file is sent electronically for review. Important: It is the responsibility of the author(s) to obtain permission from the copyright holder to reproduce figures or tables that have previously been published elsewhere, which should be scanned and emailed to the editorial office in case of acceptance together with your Publication Agreement Form.

 

Supplemental Files

Original Research Articles, Systematic Reviews and/or Meta-Analyses, Research Protocols, Case Reports and Short Communications: For figures and tables that are too large to be included with the manuscript file, please upload them as multimedia appendices. Other supplemental file types that you wish to accompany your manuscript may include research instruments (questionnaires), movie files, original/raw data (SAS/SPSS, Excel, Access database, etc.). Supplementary material will not be edited or typeset during production unless specifically requested by the authors; it will be published with the article PDF as a supplementary files in the same format as submitted by the authors. Important: It is the responsibility of the author(s) to obtain permission from the copyright holder to reproduce any supplemental file that have previously been published elsewhere, which should be scanned and emailed to the editorial office in case of acceptance together with your Publication Agreement Form.