About the Journal

Aims and scope

The International Journal of Health Evidence and Practice is a planned open-access journal for research and critical discussion across the health disciplines. Its scope includes clinical care, public health, health services, rehabilitation, health education and policy.

The journal considers original research, narrative reviews, systematic reviews, meta-analyses and case reports. Work should make a clear contribution through new findings, a rigorous synthesis or a useful methodological or practice-oriented analysis. Conclusions must be proportionate to the evidence.

What falls within the scope

Clinical and population health, prevention, diagnosis and treatment, rehabilitation, health services, professional education and health policy. Quantitative, qualitative and mixed-methods approaches are welcome when suited to the research question. Replication studies and well-conducted studies with null findings are considered on their scientific merits.

What is outside the initial scope

Promotional material, manuscripts unrelated to health, unsupported opinion pieces and conference abstracts submitted as full articles. A review must explain its methods and critically engage with the evidence. See article types and limits.

Initial submission languages are English and Spanish. Spanish manuscripts must include an English title, abstract and keywords. The accepted article types and preparation requirements are set out in the author guidelines.

Case reports should offer a documented clinical lesson and follow the case-report structure, CARE reporting and consent requirements.

Editor-in-chief

Diogo Nunes Melo

Additional editors, roles and affiliations will be announced once confirmed. Submissions involving the editor-in-chief or a relevant conflict will be handled by an independent editor.

Publication details

Editorial location
Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil

Publication frequency
Continuous publication; planned issues every two months (six per year)

eISSN
Not yet assigned

DOI registration
Crossref registration planned

Preservation
External service not yet activated

Indexing and preservation arrangements will be listed only after they have been verified. No indexing approval is implied by this preview.

Articles are released as soon as production is complete, without waiting for an issue to close. Read the publication schedule and editorial timelines.

Company responsible for the journal
CNPJ: 46.347.038/0001-36

Contact

Official editorial email: editorial.ijhep@gmail.com

For editorial inquiries, author guidance, appeals and complaints, contact the editorial office at the address above.

The publisher’s verified registration details will be published before submissions open.

Please do not send manuscripts or payments through this preview.

Peer review and editorial independence

Manuscripts are first assessed for scope, completeness, ethical compliance, reporting and basic methodological quality. Work that passes screening undergoes double-anonymous review by two independent reviewers with relevant expertise. A third reviewer may be invited when an additional assessment is needed.

Reviewers evaluate the question, design, analysis, interpretation and contribution. They advise the editor, who decides whether to reject, request revision or accept. Disagreement between reviewers does not produce an automatic acceptance or rejection. Substantial revisions may undergo further review.

The editorial team protects reviewer identities and removes identifying material from reviewer-facing files where possible. Preprints, self-citations and public datasets can limit anonymity; authors should disclose these circumstances. The first editorial report is issued within five working days of a complete submission. The duration of external peer review and revision varies; final acceptance has no fixed deadline.

Conflicts and confidential material

Editors and reviewers must disclose relationships or interests that could affect impartiality and decline an assignment when appropriate. A submission by an editor, board member or close collaborator must be handled by an independent editor; the interested person must not control the review or decision. Financial interests, publication charges and waiver requests do not determine scientific acceptance.

Unpublished manuscripts, reviewer reports and private data must remain confidential. Editors and reviewers must not upload them to external AI services where confidentiality cannot be assured without the authors’ explicit permission.

Submission, scientific assessment, peer review and reports are free of charge. Read the editorial process and deadline definitions.

Authorship, originality and prior dissemination

Authorship follows the four ICMJE criteria: a substantial contribution to the work; drafting or critical intellectual revision; approval of the final version; and accountability for its integrity. The title page must describe actual contributions. Gift authorship, purchased authorship and omission of qualifying contributors are unacceptable.

All authors must approve the submission. Requests to add, remove or reorder authors require a reason and written agreement from all affected people, with editorial assessment. Unresolved authorship disputes may be referred to the relevant institutions.

The same manuscript must not be under consideration at another journal. Authors must disclose overlap with previous publications, preprints, theses, conference abstracts and related manuscripts. Prior dissemination is assessed in context and does not by itself establish duplicate publication. Translations and secondary publications require transparent attribution and any necessary permissions.

Research integrity and the published record

Authors must report methods and findings honestly, retain supporting records and provide ethics and consent documentation when requested. The author guidelines explain committee approval, exemptions, consent, registration and participant protection. Approval by a research ethics committee is distinct from the journal’s editorial decision.

Plagiarism, fabricated or falsified data, misleading image manipulation, undisclosed redundant publication and material conflicts of interest may lead to rejection or investigation. Similarity alone does not establish misconduct; the editor considers the source, context and explanation.

Corrections, expressions of concern and retractions

Credible concerns raised before or after publication will be assessed with relevant documentation and a fair opportunity for those involved to respond. The editor may seek institutional clarification when the matter requires investigation beyond the journal’s capacity.

A correction addresses an error when the article’s main findings remain reliable. An expression of concern may alert readers while a significant issue remains unresolved. A retraction may be necessary when findings are unreliable or there is a serious ethical or publication-integrity problem. Notices will explain the reason, be dated and linked to the affected article. Versions and notices will preserve the record, subject to exceptional legal or privacy requirements.

The journal draws on COPE guidance when handling concerns.

Appeals and complaints

Authors may appeal a decision with the manuscript identifier, a concise explanation and specific scientific or procedural grounds. Disagreement alone does not require a new review. The appeal will be considered by an editor who was not directly responsible for the disputed decision where practicable; the journal will explain the outcome.

Complaints about conduct, conflicts, confidentiality or published content should identify the article or submission and provide the relevant evidence. Send editorial inquiries, appeals and complaints to editorial.ijhep@gmail.com. Do not send identifiable participant records through a public channel.

Publication fees and waivers

No submission fee. Editorial assessment, scientific evaluation, peer review and written reports are free, including for rejected manuscripts.

Brazilian authors · per accepted article R$ 249,90Authors of other nationalities · per accepted article US$ 49.90DOI registration included in both rates

The publication charge is requested only after final scientific acceptance. The first ten articles have the editorial charge waived, with only the actual DOI registration cost passed on. Authors may also request partial or full waivers, assessed independently of the scientific decision.

Read the complete fee, waiver and payment policy. Offer counting rules and operational billing and refund terms will be published before the service opens. This preview accepts no payments.

Open access and publication licence

Articles will be published with immediate open access under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0). Authors retain copyright and grant the journal non-exclusive permission to publish, distribute and preserve the approved version. Sharing and adaptation, including commercial reuse, are permitted with attribution, a licence link and an indication of changes. Third-party material may carry separately stated restrictions. The article licence does not automatically cover the journal brand, certificates or personal data.

CC BY 4.0

Preservation and continuity

An external preservation service has not yet been activated. The journal will identify the provider and coverage once confirmed. Operational backups of the database, files and configuration will be managed separately; they do not establish participation in a long-term preservation network.