Submissions

Author Guidelines

Interested in submitting to PAC-JEHSS? We recommend that you review the journal's home page. Authors need to register with the journal prior to submitting or, if already registered, can simply log in to begin the submission process.

Download Manuscript Submission Template

Responsibilities of Authors

Reporting standards

Authors of reports of original research should present an accurate account of the work performed as well as an objective discussion of its significance. Underlying data should be represented accurately in the paper. A paper should contain sufficient detail and references to permit others to replicate the work. Fraudulent or knowingly giving inaccurate statements constitutes unethical behavior and is unacceptable.

Data Access and Retention

Authors are asked to provide the raw data in connection with a paper for editorial review, and should be prepared to provide public access to such if practicable, and should, in any event, be prepared to retain such data for a reasonable time after publication.

Originality and Plagiarism

The authors should ensure that they have written entirely original works, and if the authors have used the work and/or words of others, that this has been appropriately cited or quoted. The journal will thus conduct a plagiarism check to ascertain this.

Multiple, Redundant or Concurrent Publication

An author should not submit manuscripts describing essentially the same research in more than one journal. Submitting the same manuscript to more than one journal concurrently constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable.

Acknowledgement of Sources

Proper acknowledgment of the work of others must always be given. Authors should cite publications that have been influential in determining the nature of the reported work.

Authorship of the Paper

Authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the reported study. All those who have made significant contributions should be listed as co-authors. Where there are others who have participated in certain substantive aspects of the research project, they should be acknowledged or listed as contributors.

The corresponding author(s) should ensure that all appropriate co-authors and no inappropriate co-authors are included on the paper, and that all co-authors have seen and approved the final version of the paper and have agreed to its submission for publication.

Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest

All authors should disclose in their manuscript any financial or other substantive conflict of interest that might be construed to influence the results or interpretation of their manuscript. All sources of financial support for the project should be disclosed.

Fundamental errors in published works

When an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in his/her own published work, it is the author's obligation to promptly notify the journal editor or publisher and cooperate with the Editor to retract or correct the paper.

Publication Ethics

PAC-JEHSS adheres to international publication ethics. Authors must ensure: 

• Ethical approval for studies involving human participants
• Confidentiality and informed consent
• Transparent reporting of methods and results
• Disclosure of conflicts of interest
• Accurate representation of data and findings 

Plagiarism, data manipulation, duplicate publication, or unethical research practices will result in rejection or retraction.

Manuscript Structure

Submitted papers must NOT have been previously published or accepted for publication elsewhere. The entire paper MUST be in one document of 5000-7000 words and contain the following:

1. 1^st Page: Should include the title, author(s) name and university/institution, abstract, and keywords. The title should range between 15 and 21 words or fewer and should not contain technical terms, abbreviations, punctuation, or active verbs.
2. Authors: Indicate the author(s) to whom correspondence and material requests should be addressed.
3. Abstract: Should be approximately 200 words, unreferenced. Provide a general introduction to the topic, problem statement, objective/s, key methods used, and a brief non-technical summary of your main results and their implication.
4. Introduction: Should be Succinct, with no subheadings. It should be at least one Page and not more than 1 and 1/2 pages. Provide details of the gap and justification for the study, the need for the study, and background information, and a breakdown of the purpose of the study using specific measurable objectives.
5. Methodology: This should provide a detailed description of the approaches and materials used in collecting data for the interpretation and replication of the results. This should include the research design, study location, population, sample size, sampling techniques, data collection instruments, and data collection procedures.
6. Ethical Considerations: Explain how the respondents/participants and researchers were handled so that they do not suffer any harm. The considerations should include necessary approvals, informed consent, voluntary participation, data protection, conflict of interest, and confidentiality.
7. Results: This section may be divided by subheadings and clearly presented as per the study objectives. A brief narrative of the results should precede each table or figure. 
8. Discussion: This section may be divided into subheadings, and should cover the key findings of the study: discuss any prior research related to the subject to place the novelty of the discovery in the appropriate context, discuss the potential shortcomings and limitations of their interpretations, discuss their integration into the current understanding of the problem and how this advances the current views, speculate on the future direction of the research, and freely postulate theories that could be tested in the future.
9. Conclusion: Presents key conclusions based on the objectives and results. The author(s) should provide answers to the questions raised in the main discussion. You should keep them concise, brief, and clear.
10.  Recommendations: The recommendations should be based on the conclusion(s).
11.  Acknowledgments: Keep it brief and do not include thanks to anonymous referees or editors, or effusive comments. Grant or contribution numbers may be acknowledged. Should the content of the manuscript have previously appeared online, this should be mentioned here, in addition to listing the source within the reference list.
12.  Competing interests/Conflict of interest: Submission of a competing interest statement is required
13.  References: Each reference should have a corresponding in-text citation. Written in APA 7^th edition style. Each reference must contain a DOI or, where applicable, a hyperlink. These may only contain citations and should list only one publication with each number. Include the title of the cited article or dataset.
14. Ethics Approval: Researchers will declare compliance with ethics review and data collection permits sourced from their areas of jurisdiction (local or international). Any manuscript that does not adhere to these guidelines shall be rejected.

Download Manuscript Submission Template

Manuscript Language

PAC-JEHSS requires manuscripts submitted to meet international English language standards to be considered for publication. For authors who would like their manuscript to receive language editing or proofreading to improve the clarity of the manuscript and help highlight their research, PAC-JEHSS recommends language-editing services provided by external partners at an extra cost (40 USD above the regular article publication charge of 100 USD). Note that sending your manuscript for language editing does not imply or guarantee that it will be accepted for publication by PAC-JEHSS. Editorial decisions on the scientific content of a manuscript are independent of whether it has received language editing or proofreading by external partner services or other services.

Manuscript Format

1. Paper Set-up: A4, Font size 12, Font type Times New Roman, Margins—Top 2.54 cm, Bottom 2.54 cm, Left 2.54 cm, and Right 2.54 cm, Right margins
2. Font: Times New Roman, 12pts, justified, 1.5 line spaced.
3. Paper Title: Center alignment, Title case, font size 14, single line spacing, spacing before paragraph at 0pts, while after paragraph 0pts.
4. Author Names: Font size 12, capitalize the middle name and surname, single line spacing, spacing before paragraph at 0pts, while after paragraph 0pts
5. Abstract: Title abstract: to be centered and in font size 11, 1cm right and left, the spacing before paragraph at 10pts, while after paragraph 6pts. Abstract contents to be justified and in font size 12. Content should not be more than 250 words, spacing before paragraph at 1pts while after paragraph 0pts, line spacing; single spacing.
6. Keywords: Minimum of three arranged alphabetically
7. Affiliation: Font size 9 & centre alignment, spacing before paragraph at 6pts while after paragraph 0pts, single line spacing
8. Paper Content: Font size 12, justified alignment, font type Times New Roman, single line spacing, 0pts spacing before and after paragraph
9. Headings and Subheadings: The manuscript is organized by headings and subheadings. You may insert up to 5 heading levels into your manuscript (eg, 3.2.2.1.2 Heading Title).
• Primary Headings (Heading 1): Capitalized and center alignment, 10pt spacing before and 6pt spacing after paragraph. It should not be bolded, be numbered using Roman numerals, and have single line spacing.
• Secondary Heading (Heading 2): Number using capital alphabet letters, right alignment, and italicized, 6pts spacing before and 4pts spacing after paragraph, and single line spacing.
• Tertiary Heading (Heading 3): Italicized, single line spacing, font size 12, and justified.
10. Author Biography: All authors may choose to include their biographies. Individual biography should not exceed 150 words. Author photo may be included (passport size)
11. Tables: Single line spacing, font size 10, left and right borders to be removed, top and bottom borders should be single-line, bottom border of the first row (heading row) to be single-line. The table label should be placed at the top, justified, and in the title case. The table label should be single line spacing, 2pt spacing before and after the paragraph, the explanation of table contents to be placed below the table, type in font size 8 and centered; also single line spacing, no spacing before and after the paragraph.
12. Figures: Label to be placed below the figure and in title case, single line spacing for labels, and font size 8pt and centered. Ensure that images are of sufficient resolution for reviewers to properly assess the data.
13. Referencing: Use APA 7^th edition referencing style, Times New Roman font size 12pt, and Single line spacing.

Download Manuscript Submission Template

Submission-Publication Period

The manuscript turnaround time is 6 weeks, and the efforts of PAC-JEHSS Editors and Reviewers will ensure that the average time per manuscript review is within 21 days. In case of a pending submission, please wait for a response before submitting again. We make every effort to respond as quickly as possible while giving each submission the time it deserves.

Plagiarism Procedure

Trust and integrity are among what readers value the most in scholarly peer-reviewed journal content. It is for this reason that PAC-JEHSS seeks to protect and promote the original work of its authors. Manuscripts containing plagiarized material are against the standards of quality, research, and innovation. All authors submitting articles to PAC-JEHSS are expected to respect intellectual property and abide by ethical standards of abstaining from plagiarism. By submitting a manuscript to PAC-JEHSS, it is understood that it is an original manuscript and is unpublished work that is not under consideration elsewhere. All manuscripts submitted for publication to PAC-JEHSS are cross-checked for plagiarism using Turnitin software, in accordance with international copyright laws and ethical conduct guidelines.

Any allegations of plagiarism will be brought to the attention of the Editor in Chief. In case plagiarism is detected, the Editor-in-Chief will contact the author (s) to submit his/her explanation within two weeks. If the Editor in Chief does not receive any response from the author within the stipulated time period, then the Editorial Board shall take strict action against the concerned author.

In case plagiarism is detected and validated, the following actions will be taken, depending on the nature and severity of the case:

• If a paper is still in peer review, it shall be returned to the author with a request that they address the issues through appropriate citation, use of quotation marks, or rewriting.
• If the similarity between the manuscripts is too extensive for revision, it shall be rejected.
• If the paper is already published online, a correction, expression of concern, or retraction shall be published. The PDF copy of the published manuscript shall be retracted from the website and all links to the full-text article disabled. The term Plagiarized Manuscript shall be appended to the published manuscript title.

The Editorial Board will take due care to assess the plagiarism, but in case plagiarism is found in published manuscripts/papers, it is the sole duty of the original contributor to report the plagiarized content to us. Such reported cases will be re-evaluated and notified to the Author(s) for making a revision. To report plagiarism, contact jehss@pacuniversity.ac.ke 

Submission Process

All manuscripts must be submitted electronically through the PAC-JEHSS submission URL: https://ejournals.pacuniversity.ac.ke/index.php/journal/user/register

Authors are required to:

1. Create an account or log in to the journal's submission portal.
2. Fill in the submission metadata, including the title, abstract, keywords, and author details.
3. Upload the main manuscript file in MS Word format (.doc or .docx).
4. Confirm compliance with the journal's submission and ethical guidelines.
5. Submit the manuscript for editorial review.

An acknowledgment email will be sent upon successful submission.