PHIM considers the following article types for publication. The article type pertains to the format of your research, not to the subject or content area.

Expanded definitions of each article type and detailed information about the submission requirements for each are available in a subsequent section.

• Research Articles
  • A structured article (Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusions) reporting primary/original hypotheses and findings.
• Review Articles (Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses)
  • A structured review or state-of-the-art summary article, particularly one that interprets previously-published literature; includes systematic reviews and meta-analyses. Review Articles will follow an Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, and Conclusions format.
• Brief Reports
  • A structured description of early-phase research, education, or intervention results; defined by methods, not by length of manuscript. Brief Reports might detail processes or techniques used to implement and evaluate new or innovative approaches. They might also describe the application of health information knowledge in a specific setting. Brief Reports will follow an Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, and Conclusions format.
• Theory and Practice Reports
  • An unstructured article describing or reporting a current concept in the field of health information management. This might include a description of academic curricula, implementation case studies, or methodological approaches in instructional design and technology. It might also investigate the current relevance of a historical aspect of health information management.
• Commentaries
  • An unstructured article offering new insight into questions facing the discipline, in which the author states opinions on issues, concerns, future trends, emerging technologies, or challenges in the practice of health information management and systems.
• Letters to the Editor
  • An unstructured, brief response to a previously-published article or an introduction to a specific concept the author feels warrants documentation in the permanent literature.

In addition to selecting an article type, authors may also select a topic/domain category when submitting an article. The topic/domain specifies the broad category matching the subject and content of your article. 

• Clinical Documentation
• Electronic Health Record
• Artificial Intelligence
• Coding
• Revenue Cycle
• Privacy & Security
• Data Analytics & Informatics
• Quality Improvement
• Education
• Leadership
• Professional History

PHIM conducts double-anonymized peer review and your manuscript will be evaluated by a minimum of two experts in the field.

Perspectives in Health Information Management does not accept simultaneous submissions; manuscripts should not be under consideration for publication elsewhere. Manuscripts submitted for consideration to us should not have been published (in full or in part) either in print or online.

After you submit your manuscript:

• The Editors will perform an initial “desk review” of your manuscript to ensure that it is suitable for our audience and ready for peer review. If we need any additional items prior to pee review, we will request them via the Scholastica online peer review portal.
• If your manuscript is suitable and ready, the Editors will select up to 2 peer reviewers and invite them to evaluate your manuscript.
• When the reviewers have returned their feedback, the Editors will consider their recommendations and make a final decision on your manuscript. That decision could be Accept, Minor Revision, Major Revision, or Reject.
• When a final decision is reached, you will receive a decision letter with any relevant feedback.
• If revisions are required, we will provide you with detailed instructions and a timeline for return.

This process takes approximately 4-6 weeks from submission, but that time may vary based on reviewer availability and other factors. We will proactively communicate with you, but you may also check the status of your manuscirpt at any time by logging into your Scholastica account. You may also reach us by email at perspectives@ahima.org.

As you prepare your paper, you may wish to consider some of the same questions the reviewers will use to evaluate your manuscript:

• Is your manuscript well-organized and logical? Does it flow well?
• Is your writing clear and free of jargon? In cases where acronyms are used, are they spelled out?
• Is your content unique or innovative in some way? Does it contribute something new to the health information literature?
• Is your topic of interest to our readers, who are health information professionals?
• Is the problem, question, hypothesis, or purpose of your article clearly stated?
• Is your article based on a sound theory, model, or framework?
• Do you have sufficient examples and references to support your work?
• Are all factual statements supported with clear data and references?
• Does your research question match with your research methodology? Were the proper survey instruments and statistical analyses applied? Are they validated?
• Have you described your research clearly enough that a reader could replicate it?
• Are your Tables and Figures clear and accurate? Do they match the text?
• Do your data support the conclusions you’ve drawn? Are your conclusions within scope, and not overstating the findings?
• Have you presented your findings in an impartial way?
• Is the length of your manuscript appropriate for the research you’ve conducted?
• Are your references are current and appropriate?

All manuscripts should be submitted via our online peer review system at Scholastica. You will be required to submit a main manuscript file, free of identifying information (for anonymized peer review). You will also be required to submit information about each author, including institutional affiliation, email address, degree listings. The Corresponding Author will be required to verify originality, authorship, and consent to submit.

You will also be able to submit optional files like Figures and Tables, all of which should be high-quality files that are suitable for publication.

You may check the status of your manuscript at any time via the Scholastica system.

PHIM accepts manuscripts for consideration with the understanding that they have not been published elsewhere in print or online and that they are not simultaneously under consideration by any other print or electronic publication. Authors must verify this upon submission.

PHIM will consider manuscripts that have been previously posted to not-for-profit data repositories or preprint servers if the topic warrants immediate dissemination of information. Any author submitting a paper that was first posted to a preprint server must (1) disclose the date and location of posting in their cover letter, and (2) provide an outline in their cover letter of what has been added or amended since preprint posting. Most researchers use the time between preprint posting and journal submission to collect additional data by expanding their respondent sample or extending their follow-up time.

Conflicts of Interest and Funding

You must describe any funding (financial support) you received for the work on which the manuscript is based, and grant numbers should be provided. This information should appear in the main manuscript, minus any information that would identify the authors.

Each author must also include a financial disclosure statement (eg, employment, funding, or stock ownership with the manufacturer of the product studied) and a conflict of interest statement (eg, any nonfinancial affiliation with a group that may benefit from the study, such as serving on a formulary committee) in the final version of the manuscript. Through Scholastica, you can input this information in the ‘metadata’; it should not be included the main manuscript, which should be anonymized.

Authorship

All authors listed on your manuscript must meet the criteria for authorship outlined by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. Authors must meet at least one of the following requirements:

• Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND
• Drafting the work or reviewing it critically for important intellectual content; AND
• Final approval of the version to be published; AND
• Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

During submission, the Corresponding Author will be asked to confirm that all listed authors meet these requirements and consent to submission of the article to PHIM. For publication, authors may be asked to specify their contributions. 

Before submitting, please consider the ethical guidelines pertaining to your particular article type. Specifically, we require the following:

General Notes

All manuscripts should be submitted as Microsoft Office Word documents. All manuscripts should be formatted in 12-point standard font (eg, Times New Roman or Calibri).

All submissions to PHIM should follow American Medical Association (AMA) style for references and in-text citations.  All references should include direct URLs (uniform resource locators).

If your manuscript is not formatted properly, it will either be returned to you before peer review, or you will be asked to revise it before publication.

Research Articles

Research articles are structured presentations of original hypotheses, studies, and results. present original hypotheses and findings. They report various types of research, including controlled trials, observational studies, cost-effectiveness studies, survey-based studies, correlational studies, causal comparative studies, and more. Methods and statistical analyses should match well with the hypothesis. Research approaches may be quantitative or qualitative.

Research Article Elements:

• Abstract: Structured (Background, Objective, Methods, Results, Conclusions), 500 words or fewer
• Manuscript Sections: Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusions
• Word count: Generally 3000 or fewer
• References: Often 50 or fewer, as recent as possible/relevant, AMA format
• Figures and Tables: Optional but encouraged

Review Articles (Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses)

Review Articles present structured, comprehensive summary and interpretation of the literature on a well-defined topic that has significance to health information. Of particular importance are the integration of past findings and the identification of gaps in the existing literature. Systematic reviews and meta-analyses are robust, unbiased methods of reviewing the literature.

A systematic review showcases a literature search to answer a clearly formulated question. It uses systematic and explicit methods to identify, select, and critically appraise relevant research, and to collect and analyze data from the studies that are included in the review. Statistical methods (meta-analysis) may or may not be used to analyze and summarize the results of the included studies.

A meta-analysis requires a statistical technique that synthesizes or pools the results of many studies to assess outcomes. Meta-analysis uses explicit criteria for inclusion and pools the effect sizes across studies to synthesize results.

Review Article Elements:

• Abstract: Structured (Background, Objective, Methods, Results, Conclusions), 500 words or fewer
• Manuscript Sections: Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusions
• Word count: Generally 5000 or fewer
• References: Often 75 or fewer, as recent as possible/relevant, AMA format
• Figures and Tables: PRISMA required; others optional but encouraged

Brief Reports

Brief Reports are structured descriptions of early-phase research, education, or intervention results.  Brief Reports might detail processes or techniques used to implement and evaluate new or innovative approaches. They might also describe the application of health information knowledge in a specific setting. Brief Reports may describe research in any domain that pertains to health information.

Brief Reports are similar to Research Articles, but they detail research that is in earlier stages of development. Brief Reports will often have smaller participant cohorts; they can focus on feasibility or pilot a specific treatment protocol. Brief Reports are not simply a shorter write-up of a large study that would warrant more detailed description. In other words, Brief Reports are defined by methods, not by length of manuscript.

Brief Report Elements:

• Abstract: Structured (Background, Objective, Methods, Results, Conclusions), 500 words or fewer
• Manuscript Sections: Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusions
• Word count: Generally 2500 or fewer
• References: Often 35 or fewer, as recent as possible/relevant, AMA format
• Figures and Tables: Optional but encouraged

Theory and Practice Reports

Theory and Practice Reports may be structured or unstructured narrative articles describing pragmatic examples of how organizations address quality improvement issues and problems. Manuscripts might address strategies, challenges, barriers, and, particularly, solutions in the implementation of health information technology quality improvement interventions. They could also describe new processes or techniques that are currently undergoing implementation and evaluation. These manuscripts may also describe a “case report” of the application of health information knowledge in a setting, in which case success should be described with as much data as possible, including things like number of users, data quality, cost/benefit, etc.

Theory and Practice Report Elements:

• Abstract: Structured (Background, Objective, Methods, Results, Conclusions) or Unstructured, as appropriate to the content; 500 words or fewer
• Manuscript Sections: Introduction, Discussion, Conclusions, plus interim sections as appropriate to the content
• Word count: Generally 3000 or fewer
• References: Often 35 or fewer, as recent as possible/relevant, AMA format
• Figures and Tables: Optional but encouraged

Commentaries

Commentaries are brief, narrative articles offering new insights into questions facing the discipline. The authors may offer perspectives on current debates, issues, concerns, future trends, emerging technologies, or challenges in the practice of health information management and systems.

Commentary Elements:

• Abstract: Unstructured; 500 words or fewer
• Manuscript Sections: As appropriate to the content
• Word count: Generally 1500 or fewer
• References: Often 20 or fewer, as recent as possible/relevant, AMA format
• Figures and Tables: Optional

Letters to the Editor

Letters to the Editor offer readers an opportunity to respond to articles that have been previously (but recently) published in Perspectives. They are subject to editorial and peer review. Letters may be unstructured and do not require an abstract, but should be no longer than 1000 words.

Authors of accepted manuscripts will be asked to sign a Copyright Transfer Agreement (CTA), which must be returned prior to manuscript publication. If you would like to see a copy of the CTA before submitting to us, please email perspectives@ahima.org.

If your manuscript is accepted for publication with PHIM, it will undergo copyediting and typesetting to adhere to journal style. When a proof is ready, you will receive a copy for review. We ask that the corresponding author complete proof review within 3 business days after receipt, to ensure timely publication. PHIM currently publishes twice per year: one Spring issue, generally published in March, and one Fall issue, generally published in October. However, we are moving toward a continuous publication model, wherein articles will be published as soon as they become available, then collected into an issue after 'Online First' publication. We will keep you apprised of a publication timeline once your article is accepted, and you can email us with questions at any time: perspectives@ahima.org.

Opinions and views expressed by authors in all manuscripts should not be construed to represent the opinions and views of the AHIMA Foundation or AHIMA.