Quantitative study involves the collection of data from either a randomised controlled trial, crossover study or longitudinal study.  Ethics committee approval is required for these studies, and they are often prospective in nature.  Quantitative studies are designed to answer a specific research question and inferences, or generalisations, can be made to the wider population.  Quantitative studies form the backbone of evidence-based practice.  These articles should not exceed 2000 words.

Qualitative studies use trustworthy methods and methodologies to collect usually textual data, but this could also include images. These studies are usually more concerned with the ‘why’ rather than the ‘what’ or ‘how’ type research questions and are chosen when exploring experiences and/or perceptions of a phenomenon.  Ethics committee approval is required for these studies.  These articles should not exceed 2500 words.

Systematic and scoping reviews or meta-analysis should not exceed 2500 words.  Systematic reviews use repeatable methods to find, select and synthesise all available evidence on a clear research question.  Scoping reviews identify and map the breadth of evidence on a particular topic.  A meta-analysis is a tool used to combine results from single research studies that are included in a systematic review to identify trends in a pool of data by using statistical methods. 

Work-based Projects: Service Improvement and/or Service Evaluation are useful to estimate the value of the service being delivered or what standard a service achieves.  It examines how standard care is delivered and is not designed to produce generalisable or transferable findings.  Local Trust/Health Board agreements/approvals for work-based projects need to be obtained.  The HRA decision tool can help with the assessment as to whether a project is considered research or service evaluation (http://www.hra-decisiontools.org.uk/research.   The word count for work-based projects should not exceed 2000 words.

Case reports are important for highlighting instances where a patient or treatment has deviated from the ‘typical’ protocol or response.  They are often used for patients who have very rare presentations, where insufficient patient numbers would preclude a randomised controlled trial.  Or for novel treatment approaches that have shown to be surprisingly successful.  Where it is possible to do so, the author should obtain from the patient written, informed consent for the details that are included in the case study.  In all cases identifying details should be omitted if they are not essential.  There is a 1000-word limit.

Commentaries are opinion articles written on a specific development, topic, or research findings.  These would not usually exceed 1000 words.

Brief reports may report on preliminary studies (e.g. pilot study) and the initial findings that need further investigation.  These would not usually exceed 1000 words.

Technical reports are often shorter reports that should not exceed 1000 words that detail the nature of a technical research problem or advancement in technology and describe the process, progress, or results.  It might also include recommendations and conclusions of the research.  

Study and review protocols provide a step-by-step guide for conducting research or reviews (which may include systematic review, scoping reviews, and meta-analysis). These would not usually exceed 1500 words.

The ACPRC have developed detailed guidance to help members write for publication, available here: ACPRC Journal - ACPRC

Manuscript Format

Ensure that all identifying information from the main manuscript is removed.  The main manuscript should start with the title and move directly to the abstract. 

Font and spacing

Ensure all text is Calibri.

Title: bold 16pt, 1.5 spacing

Authors, keywords and correspondence: 12pt, all headings bold

Abstract: Word count for all abstracts max 250 words

• Sub-headings: 14pt, bold, italic
• Text: 12pt, single spaced, italic

Main body of article:

• Headings: bold 14pt, Text: 12pt, double spacing
• Any further subheadings within sections: italics

Figures and table titles: 12pt

Note for insert figure/table: bold, italic, capital, red 12pt.

All pages must be numbered.

Title page

All submissions should include a title page as a separate document. This page must include the following information:

• Title of the article
• The full names and initials of each author and institutional affiliation of each author.
• Name, e-mail address and telephone number (not personal mobile/landline) of the author responsible for correspondence.
• Please provide 3-5 keywords that summarise the major themes of your article.
• Word count (excluding abstract)

Tables and Illustrations

Tables should be included within the main article as editable cell-based objects. Figures and illustrations should be provided in JPEG/JPG or PNG format and be included in the main article body. Photography and images can be in colour. Supply images at highest resolution obtainable from source. Do not reduce the file size. A limit of 5 figures and tables is advised.

If previously published, acknowledge the original source. It is the author’s responsibility to ensure that permission is received from the copyright holder for the reproduction of figures and tables before submission (search for ‘permissions’ on the publisher’s website).

References, explanatory matter and definitions of abbreviations should be explained in a key below the table.

Ensure that each table and figure are cited in the text.

Describe where the figure should sit within the text e.g. 

********FIGURE 2 NEAR HERE*******

References        

These should be referenced using the Vancouver style.

In-text citations

Vancouver uses numeric in-text citations, where the number of the reference(s) is given in square brackets.

                  A recent study [1] has shown that……..

                 Jones [2] argues that…….

                 Richards et al. [3] explore the concept of…….

Citations/references are numbered in the order that they appear in the text, so your first citation is [1], the second is [2] and so on. 

If you cite the same source elsewhere in the text, you will use the original citation number.  This may mean that the numbers might not appear in consecutive order in the text always.

In-text citations with multiple sources

If you are using several sources in the text, you may want to use several sources in one citation.

                Several studies [6, 12] show that……

To cite multiple studies that appear consecutively in your numbered list, you can use an en dash to indicate these.

                Several studies [2-6] indicate that……

Citing page numbers

When you use a direct quote, or paraphrase a particular part of text, you should provide the page number or range.

                 As Jones indicates, “it is necessary to include demographic information on the participants” [1, p.64].

Key points

Please provide between 3-5 key points from your work.  These should be presented as bullet points.

Declaration of interest

Please provide a statement to disclose if any of the authors have any financial and personal relationships with other people or organisations that could inappropriately influence the work.

Funding

Please provide a statement to disclose if any of the authors had any funding to complete the work. 

Acknowledgements

Please include the names of those who contributed to the work, but did not meet the criteria for authorship. The nature of the contribution should also be stated. 

Reference List

Please ensure that each reference cited in the text is also present in the reference list (and vice versa).  Number the references in the list in the order in which they appear in the text.

To reference a journal publication:

Swingwood, E. Shannon, H. The Future is bright and exciting, and it must involve research. Journal of the Association of Chartered Physiotherapists in Respiratory Care. 2022. 54(1): 77-88

Use of DOI is encouraged where available.

For more than 3 authors the first 3 should be listed followed by 'et al.'

The total number of references should usually not exceed 30 – however more may be required to support scoping reviews.

Additional required files

Authors are required to submit a cover letter to the editors outlining how the submitted manuscript meets the scope of the Journal and why it would be of interest to ACPRC members. An example is available here: ACPRC Journal - ACPRC

Supplementary materials submitted will be published online without any editing. 

Patient consent: Studies that involve patients or volunteers should include details in the manuscript on how informed consent was obtained.  The relevant details of ethical review and governance processes should also be documented. Publication of any personal information about a patient, for example in a case report or clinical photograph, will normally require the signed consent of the patient. If this is the case, please include a statement on your title page of your submission that any identifiable information for a patient(s) have provided their signed consent to publication and submit this as a supplemental file.

Declaration of interest: A statement at the end of the manuscript must disclose if any of the authors have any financial and personal relationships with other people or organisations that could inappropriately influence their work.

Funding: A statement at the end of the manuscript must disclose if any of the authors had any funding to complete the work. When submitting the manuscript via the Scholastica platform there will be an option to details of any funders. If the funder is not available from the drop down list then please skip this step but still include your funding statement in the manuscript.  

Acknowledgements: A statement at the end of the manuscript should state the names of those who contributed to the work, but did not meet the criteria for authorship. The nature of the contribution should also be stated. 

Inclusive language: The ACPRC is committed to promoting and maintaining an inclusive culture.  All language used in manuscripts should support equality, diversity and inclusion.