Submissions

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Submission Preparation Checklist

As part of the submission process, authors are required to check off their submission's compliance with all of the following items, and submissions may be returned to authors that do not adhere to these guidelines.
  • The submission has not been previously published, nor is it currently before another journal for consideration (or an explanation has been provided in Comments to the Editor).
  • My project was approved by the appropriate committee (Human Ethics, Institutional Review Board, or Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee).
  • I submitted a separate word document with the following information for all author(s):
    Author Name, (degree(s), AHIP, etc.), Title/Position, Library, Employer, City, State, ORCID, email
  • New or Returning Authors: Login or create an author profile using your ORCID ID. We encourage you to add an existing ORCID ID to the Public Tab of your Author profile. Please start from “https:” to copy/paste the information from your ORCID ID profile. Note: Feel free to upload the ORCID IDs and contact information for non-corresponding authors in a separate document titled, “Author Contact Information.”
  • Figures, images, and illustrations are uploaded separately as standard letter size with file type PNG or TIFF.
  • Voices of Experience, Hypothesis Failure, Methods Moment, and Research Article submissions must be anonymized. Not anonymizing your document pre-submission increases the turnaround around time.
  • Multi-authored submissions have completed the CRediT Author Statement as outlined in the Author Guidelines.
  • Submission files must be in OpenOffice, Microsoft Word, or RTF document file format. Do not submit PDFs.
  • The text adheres to the stylistic and bibliographic requirements outlined in the Author Guidelines.
  • Figures, Images, and Illustrations are labeled consecutvely as (Figure, Image, or Illustration X) at the appropriate place within the text. Legends are placed at the bottom of the manuscript after the references.
  • Table(s) should be clearly labeled in the text (e.g., Table X) and they remain in the manuscript.
  • Where available, DOIs for references have been provided. Web-only references include URLs and date of access.
  • All citations for the submission conform to the most current edition of Vancouver. All in-text citations are indicated with superscripts.

Author Guidelines

To submit an article or other item for consideration, contributors should ensure that the following criteria are met. We welcome inquiries about possible submissions.

Author Information

We ask author(s) to submit a separate word document, which includes the following information, for each member of the Author Team:

  1. Author Name
  2. Degree(s)
  3. AHIP (if applicable)
  4. Title/Position
  5. Library
  6. Employer
  7. City, State
  8. ORCID (if applicable)
  9. Email

Reference Style

Hypothesis uses the Vancouver citation style and superscripts are used to indicate in-text citations.

Images, charts, graphs, figures, and tables 

Images, charts, figures, illustrations, and graphs may be in black and white or color. There is no limit on the number of such element allowed, but all included should be clearly referred to in the text (e.g, Table 1) and consecutively numbered. Legends or descriptions for all images, figures, and illustrations should be placed on a separate and blank page at the bottom of the manuscript. All images, figures, and illustrations must be saved as standard letter size and the file type must be PNG or TIFF. These files must be uploaded separately from the manuscript. 

The Production Editor and Editor reserve the right to create Appendixes for oversized images, figures, etc, which will not fit in the standard letter size sheet of paper (8.5 inch or 21.59 cm by 11 inch or 27.94 cm). Author(s) should contact the Editor, if they plan to include and oversized image, figure, etc.

CRediT Author Statement

Multi-author submission teams are asked to complete the CRediT Author Statement. This statement should precede the references section of the submission.

Research Approval

For any human subject or animal submissions, authors should indicate Human Ethics, Institutional Review Board (IRB), or Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) approval.

Anonymizing/Blinding Your Manuscript

Any references written by a member of the author team should be redacted.

Any references to employer(s), program(s), or something a peer reviewer mght recognize and use to identify you should be removed.

Contact hypothesisj@protonmail.com with any comment, questions, or concerns.

Editorial Board Reports

These 300-400 word reports will feature updates from the current Hypothesis Editorial Board Subcommitees.

Hypothesis: Failure

Hypothesis: Failure is the brainchild of Column Editor Heather Holmes. Thes peer reviewed articles provide an opportunity to share experiences that didn't go as expected (or that didn't end at all). Author(s) are asked to use the Vancouver citation style and to use superscripts for all in-text citations.

Author(s) may wish to download the Submission Template.

Every submission should include a structured abstract with the following headings – it is ok to adjust the headings to better describe your submission:

Abstract word count: 200 words

  • Objective(s): What was your original intent?
  • Methods: What did you do?
  • Results: What happened instead?
  • Lessons learned: What would you do differently?

The main document should elaborate on ideas or themes mentioned in the structured abstract. Casual language is acceptable for Hypothesis Failure submission. These submissions should be anonymized and they are evaluated by double blind peer review.

Main Document Word Count: ~1500 words

Please feel free to contact Heather Holmes, Associate Editor, about possible submissions.

Make a new submission to Hypothesis: Failure.

Methods Moment

Methods moment columns should be written in a casual, practical style and each submission undergoes double blind peer review. A given column will not aim to be comprehensive of a topic; instead, it should give enough detail to familiarize the reader with the topic, help them imagine the topic’s practical application in health librarian research, and lead interested readers to explore further. Author(s) are asked to use the Vancouver citation style and to use superscripts for all in-text citations.

Author(s) may wish to download the Submission Template.

Structured Abstract (200 words)

  • Method Name(s):
  • Description:
  • Process:

Manuscript (1000 words)

Overview: The overview should include a short definition or description of the method or topic. It will then explain the method or topic, its purpose or role in producing research findings, and why it might be of interest to health science librarians in their research. The overview should stand on its own for readers who are curious but do not want to explore further.

Example: The example section should include data and illustrate how the method or topic plays out during research in practice. The example might be a narrative description of the topic in action, a personal experience of application, or a mock case study describing an imaginary scenario of when and how the topic would be applied. In your example, include some strengths of this method and limitations when using this method.

Resources: The resources section should point readers to places for further exploration and self-guided learning. This should be a curated list of materials for interested learners. Wherever possible, if learning materials exist then they should be pointed to in the resources rather than trying to include instructional content in the overview. Most of the resources should be freely accessible, rather than subscription resources with limited availability.

However, alternative formats may be considered! Good alternative formats could include compare-and-contrast between two related methods, brief reports of methods Institutes focusing on ideas for self-guided exploration, or summaries of discussion events among librarians who use a certain method. Creative approaches to addressing the needs of practitioners new to research are encouraged.

For questions about Methods Moment (e.g., submissions, formatting, etc.), email Associate Editor Nina Exner.

Research

These submissions (e.g., Case Reports, Systematic Reviews, Surveys, Case Study, etc.) must have a structured abstract and follow the guidelines outlined below. Author(s) are asked to use the Vancouver citation style and to use superscripts for all in-text citations.

Author(s) may wish to download the Submission Template.

Structured Abstract (300 words)

Introduction or Background:

Methods:

Results:

Discussion:

Manuscript Formatting (5000 words)

  • Introduction or Background: Provide a concise overview of study, including research questions, population or problem, methods
  • Methods: Explain how you (or your team) gathered appropriate and sufficient information to answer research questions. The literature review could be mentioned in this section. The process may be qualitative, quantitative, or mixed-methods, but it should be replicable based on provided information. If appropriate, mention human ethics or Institutional Review Board approval.
  • Results: Explain how you (or your team) analyzed the results using figures, tables, etc. Additional links to data should be listed in article, as appropriate.
  • Discussion: Discuss implications of findings and suggestions for future research. Be transparent about assumptions, possible bias, and weaknesses of design or processes: no research is perfect!
  • Limitations: This section can be placed immediately after the methods and before the results or before the Conclusions section of the manuscript.
  • Conclusions
  • Data Availability Statement: This should be placed in the manuscript at the end of the main text but before the references.
  • Supplemental Materials: This could be an appendix, survey questions or other information needed for reproducibility. 

If you have any questions about Research submissions, please contact Associate Editor Jon Eldredge.

Make a new submission to Research.

The Research Mentor

Experienced researchers are living libraries of practical advice on the actual implementation of research studies.  The Research Mentor column is the only place in the health information professional journal literature where experts can mentor their less experienced colleagues. These submissions will be featured in March issues.

Abstracts: Optional, but they should be structured if included with the submission. Abstract word count, which does not include headings, should not exceed 200 words.

Manuscript: ~1000-1400 words, which does not include references or captions for Tables and Figures.

Email hypothesisj@protonmail.com for clarification or questions about this submission category.

Voices of Experience

Submissions are intended to be experiential or reflective in nature, while also providing readers with some background information on methods or processes. Your intended audience should be both librarians interested in or currently doing research. These submissions undergo double blind peer review.  Author(s) are asked to use the Vancouver citation style and to use superscripts for all in-text citations.

Author(s) may wish to download the Submission Template.

Structured Abstract (300 words excluding headings below):

  • Background or Introduction:
  • Experience:
  • Discussion:
  • Takeaways:

Manuscript Structure (5000 words – excluding citations and appended materials):

  • Background or Introduction: Give the audience the “why” or purpose of your article.
  • Experience: Describe your experience. Your writing should be professional in quality, but it is acceptable to use first person in this section of the manuscript.
  • Discussion: Discuss what you have learned as a result of or by going through this experience.
  • Takeaways: Make a few suggestions or provide skills learned during/as a result of this experience for the reader.

Make a new submission to Voices of Experience.

Conference Abstracts

Did you know that you can revise and submit your Conference abstracts to Hypothesis? We will perform editorial review, ask only for minor edits if they are needed, and then feature it in a future issue. Please be aware if you have already published your work, it cannot also be featured in Hypothesis.

Submission Guidelines:

A structured abstract should include 200 words (not including structured abstract headings or references):

Research Submissions

Background (Introduction)

Methods

Results

Conclusion

References (optional)*

Program Submissions

Background or Introduction (choose the most appropriate heading for your project)

Description

Outcomes

Discussion or Takeaways (choose the most appropriate heading for your project)

References (Optional)*

Use Vancouver style and In-text citation (X), if you choose to include them. These do not count towards the word count.

Copyright Notice

All works in Hypothesis are licensed under a CC BY-NC 4.0 DEED Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International. Authors own copyright of their articles appearing in Hypothesis. Readers may copy articles without permission of the copyright owner(s), as long as the author(s) are acknowledged in the copy, and the copy is used for educational, not-for-profit purposes. For any other use of articles, please contact the copyright owner(s). 

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