Preliminary Author Checklist

First and foremost the more specific Author Guidelines and Ethical Guidelines must be followed, below is merely a Checklist to assure you have covered basic items needed for your initial submission.

  • Submission is solely to the American Journal of Health Behavior.
  • Submission and all correspondence are conducted online.
  • Manuscript does not contain author information.
  • Title contains no more than 75 characters including spaces.
  • Abstract has 5 distinct sections; Objective(s), Methods, Results, Conclusion(s), and Key words.
  • Abstract is 200 words or less including Key words.
  • Manuscript includes no more than 6 Key words for indexing.
  • Manuscript is double-spaced, pages numbered, and in a 12-point font.
  • American Medical Association style format was used.
  • Body of the manuscript is 5000 words or less excluding abstract, tables, figures and references.
  • Cite where the tables and figures should be placed in the body of the text.
  • All “p” values are lower case and NOT capped, “P”.
  • Tables and figures are on separate pages and appear after the references.
  • Embedded captions or titles do not appear on any table or figure.
  • Copyright permission obtained for all previously copyrighted material.
  • Index Medicus is used for listing of journal titles.
  • All journal titles are italicized and followed by a period.
  • Indent all paragraphs.
  • Use proper headings.
  • Do not use line numbers.
  • All page numbers should be listed in full eg, 1201-1209, not 1201-9.
  • Suggest you download not only Author Guidelines but a current published manuscript to use as a template.

Final Checklist & Final Cover Page

Should your manuscript be Accepted with Revisions, you will be directed to download and accommodate stylistic changes detailed at the following link, Final Checklist. You will also be asked to create your own title page to accompany your text that mirrors this Final Cover Page. Once the final checklist and cover page have been successfully addressed, your manuscript will be forwarded to the grammarian and placed in the queue for typesetting.

Important: The Final Checklist differs from the Author Guidelines
The discrepancy between the Author Guidelines and the Final Checklist is not a journal inconsistency but distinctive requirements at different stages in the review process. Like other journals we delay the meticulous detail outlined on the Final Checklist until a positive publishing decision is made.

If additional questions arise, please contact the journal offices.