Guide to Contributors
Health & Care Management is the Institute of Healthcare Management (IHM) members’ magazine.
The IHM is the professional organisation for managers and leaders (from students to chief executives) working in the four healthcare systems in the UK.
Our members work for the NHS, independent providers, healthcare consultants and the Armed Forces.
Health & Care Management is a key resource enabling members to stay up to date and understand the impact on their work, of the wide array of latest issues, trends, best practices and legislative issues that occur each month.
Health & Care Management delivers quality, relevant, management-based editorial. It covers the broad spectrum of management disciplines and draws together our community of members.
Submitting articles
If we have approached you to contribute an article please refer to that correspondence regarding word count for the article in question.
If you are submitting an unsolicited article (no longer than 2,000 words including the references) should be emailed as a word compatible document (not docx format) to p.slinger@ihm.org.uk
Alternatively, you may send your article by post to:
Phil Slinger, Editor, Health & Care Management, 18-21 Morley Street, London, SE1 7QZ.
All articles submitted are reviewed before publication; this can take a number of weeks. When the review is complete, you will be contacted about proofs, so we need up-to-date contact details.
Article Format
Title page
1. Title of article
2. The names of the authors (with initials or first names, whichever is preferred)
3. Job title, employer and location of each author
4. Name and address of the author responsible for correspondence. Please provide
full contact details (including work and home addresses, telephone numbers and
email addresses).
Short introduction
This is typeset in bold at the beginning of the article, between 50 and 60 words in length. It aims to whet the readers’ interest in the article, and tell them what they will learn about the topic.
Headings
Headings and subheadings make the text easier to read and enhance clarity. Use headings to break up long passages of text, or to indicate a change in subject.
Key points
Please consider supplying three to five key phrases that adequately summarize the major themes of your article. We can then use these in a highlight box.
For example:
• IHM will provide a peer-reviewed source of information to all professionals involved in health care management
• IHM will discuss new information and ideas relating to all aspects of management
• IHM will create an awareness of the national issues affecting the profession
• IHM will encourage collaboration and sharing of ideas between professionals
Figures and tables
Figures (illustrations, graphs, bar charts and photographs) and tables (information listed in a boxed off row-and-column format) are popular with readers and are encouraged.
Remember, your article has to compete with other articles in the magazine to catch the eye of the reader. An interesting item can turn a browser into a reader.
Please clearly indicate the number of the figure or table in the text of the article and also on the figure/table.
In the case of illustrations, our artists can transform rough drawings you provide into finished artwork. Graphs, bar charts etc must have all percentages/numbers clearly marked on them, as our artists also redraw these.
Photographs and slides can be supplied in hard copy or electronically. If supplied electronically, please ensure that the images are high-resolution. It is preferable that they each be sent separately (i.e. not embedded in a Word document or Powerpoint presentation).
You must have written consent to publish photographs of patients and/or their conditions. Please indicate that such consent has been obtained in your submission.
Please ensure that all tables and figures are cited in the text and that permission has been granted to use them where necessary. If they are from another publication, seek the original publisher’s permission.
REFERENCES
The Harvard system must be used. Provide full details of the original source of the material used (do not use ‘cited in…’).
In the text
1. For one or two authors, give surnames plus the year of publication:
As Black (1987) and Black and White (1990) have shown…
As already reported (Black and White, 1987)…
2. For 3 or more authors, put the first author’s name followed by ‘et al’:
e.g. As Black et al (1987) have shown…
3. When several references are cited simultaneously the order should be
chronological:
e.g. Ross, 1990; James, 1997; Levi, 1998…
In the reference list
1. Arrange references alphabetically by first author’s name.
Black B (1987)…
Black B (1999)…
2. Give the surnames and initials of all authors for references with six or less authors.
Black B, Green G (1995)…
Black B, White W (1993)…
Black B, White W, Green G, Brown B, Tan T (1993)…
Black B, Green G, Tan T (2004)…
Black B, Abel C, Tan T (1995)…
The last three references above are in chronological order as they are all cited as Black et al in the text. For seven or more authors print the first three and add ‘et al’—are arranged chronologically:
Black B, White W, Green G et al (2003)…
Black B, Green G, Tan T et al (2004)…
Black B, Brown B, Tan T et al (2005)…
3. The sequence for a standard journal article is: author(s) (year) Title. Journal title (abbreviated as in PubMed) volume(issue): first page–last page. For example:
Armstrong-Esther C, Hagen B, Sandilands M, Williams R, Smith C (2005) A
longitudinal study of home care clients and their informal carers. Br J Community Nurs 10(6): 284–91
4. The sequence, layout and punctuation for books are:
Personal Author:
Ellis H (1980) Lecture Notes on Psychiatry. 5th edn. Blackwell, Oxford
Editor:
Scott H, Brown B, eds (1973) Living with Parkinson’s disease. Vol 5. Raven Press, New York
Chapter in Book:
Samuels B (1979) Pulmonary complications of AIDS. In: Rand A, Long B, eds.
Management of AIDS. Butterworths, London: 387–95
5. Articles that have been submitted for publication but not yet accepted are not acceptable as references. They should be cited in the text as ‘unpublished observations’. (Smith XY, unpublished observations, with or without a date).
Similarly, ‘personal communication’ should be inserted in the text in parentheses.
6. Articles that have been accepted for publication but not yet published may be included in the reference list: Abel HL (2002) The management of chronic asthma in the community. Br J Community Nurs (in press)
ABBREVIATION AND UNITS
Abbreviations should be defined at their first mention. Standard units should always be used, where applicable.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST
It is the Magazines editorial policy to ask authors to declare any conflict of interest, including any possible interest, financial or otherwise, that may embarrass the author or the Magazine if revealed at a later date. If you believe that applies to you, please provide a statement at the end of the article.
ETHICAL APPROVAL
If the work involves the use of animal or human subjects, the author should ensure that the article contains a statement that all procedures were performed in compliance with relevant laws and institutional guidelines and that the appropriate institutional committee(s) has/have approved them.
The Magazine nor the IHM carry any responsibility for any of the opinions of the articles published.
Contributors of accepted articles are required to make known their full name to help protect their written material. The Magazine as well as the authors’ work is under the protection of the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Phil Slinger, Commercial Director – Editor
Institute of Healthcare Management
18-21 Morley Street
London
SE1 7QZ
Tel: 020 7620 1030
Fax: 020 7620 1040
Email: p.slinger@ihm.org.uk
