The Healthcare Quality Professionals Journal (HQPJ) publishes a range of scholarly manuscript types addressing healthcare quality, patient safety, clinical governance, health services, healthcare administration, quality improvement, accreditation, healthcare outcomes, professional practice, and related interdisciplinary areas.
Authors should select the manuscript category that most accurately reflects the purpose, methodology, evidence, and scholarly contribution of their submission. Regardless of manuscript type, submissions should demonstrate originality, academic relevance, methodological appropriateness, ethical integrity, clear reporting, and a meaningful contribution to healthcare quality knowledge or professional practice.
General Requirements for All Manuscript Types
All submissions to HQPJ should satisfy the journal’s general scholarly and ethical requirements:
- Relevance to the journal’s scope
- Original and scholarly contribution
- Clear research or professional objective
- Appropriate methodology or analytical approach
- Accurate and transparent reporting
- Appropriate use of supporting evidence
- Ethical compliance where applicable
- Proper authorship and contributorship
- Accurate citation and referencing
- Disclosure of conflicts of interest
- Funding disclosure where applicable
- Professional academic presentation
Detailed Manuscript Categories
Present new empirical findings relevant to healthcare quality, patient safety, healthcare management, health services, clinical governance, or professional practice.
Suitable Designs: Quantitative, qualitative, mixed-method, observational, experimental, implementation, comparative, and survey-based research.
Critically examine and synthesize existing literature on a clearly defined healthcare-quality topic. Clarify existing knowledge, identify evidence gaps, compare approaches, and propose future research directions.
Address a clearly defined research question through a transparent and reproducible approach to identifying, selecting, evaluating, and synthesizing relevant evidence.
Quantitatively synthesize findings from relevant studies to provide an overall estimate or comparison of effects, outcomes, associations, or interventions using statistical procedures.
Describe systematic efforts to improve healthcare processes, patient outcomes, safety, efficiency, service delivery, workforce performance, or organizational quality.
Provide an in-depth analysis of a healthcare institution, department, service, program, policy, quality initiative, accreditation process, patient-safety challenge, or management intervention.
Present concise but meaningful scholarly findings that may not require a full-length research article, such as preliminary findings, novel methods, emerging quality initiatives, or focused analyses.
Communicate focused research findings, limited-scope evaluations, pilot studies, service assessments, or concise analyses with sufficient scholarly importance for publication.
Examine how healthcare is organized, financed, delivered, accessed, evaluated, and improved, including organizational performance, workforce issues, patient experience, and outcomes.
Critically examine policies, standards, regulations, governance models, accreditation systems, institutional practices, or professional frameworks that influence healthcare quality.
Provide evidence-informed, academically balanced, and clearly reasoned scholarly analysis of important or emerging issues in healthcare quality, leadership, clinical governance, or policy.
Provide focused scholarly discussion of a healthcare-quality issue, published research topic, professional challenge, policy development, or emerging trend based on critical insight.
Research examining education, training, competency development, professional learning, simulation, workforce improvement, and continuing professional development where these areas have a clear relationship with healthcare quality or patient safety.
Manuscript Type Overview
| Manuscript Type | Primary Purpose |
|---|---|
| Original Research | Present new empirical research findings. |
| Review Article | Critically synthesize existing literature and evidence. |
| Systematic Review | Systematically identify and synthesize evidence. |
| Meta-Analysis | Quantitatively combine findings from multiple studies. |
| Quality Improvement Study | Evaluate structured efforts to improve healthcare quality or safety. |
| Case Study | Analyze a healthcare-quality situation, intervention, or institution in depth. |
| Short Communication | Present concise and timely scholarly findings. |
| Brief Report | Report focused research, pilot findings, or service evaluations. |
| Policy Analysis | Critically evaluate healthcare policy, governance, or regulatory issues. |
| Perspective / Commentary | Provide evidence-informed scholarly analysis of an important issue. |
Selecting the Appropriate Manuscript Type
Authors should select the manuscript type according to the nature of the work rather than the desired publication format:
New Primary Data?
An Original Research Article, Brief Report, or Short Communication may be appropriate depending on the extent of the study.
Synthesizing Existing Evidence?
A Review Article, Systematic Review, or Meta-Analysis may be appropriate.
Evaluating an Improvement Initiative?
A Quality Improvement Study or Healthcare Quality Case Study may be suitable.
Analyzing Policy or Practice?
A Policy Analysis, Perspective, or Commentary may be suitable depending on the nature of the contribution.
Editorial Assessment
Submission under a particular manuscript category does not guarantee acceptance in that category. The editorial team of Healthcare Quality Professionals Journal (HQPJ) may assess whether the selected category appropriately reflects the nature and scholarly content of the manuscript. Authors may be asked to revise the manuscript structure or category where this would improve clarity and consistency with journal requirements.
Regardless of manuscript type, submissions to Healthcare Quality Professionals Journal (HQPJ) should comply with the journal’s Author Guidelines, Authorship Criteria, Conflict of Interest Policy, Publication Ethics, Plagiarism Policy, Peer Review Policy, Copyright & Licensing Policy, and other applicable editorial requirements.