At IJPDS, sharing research freely is at the heart of everything we do and, as an Open Access journal, it is important that we uphold the Open Access ethos of making research freely accessible to all without restriction.

All manuscripts are published using the Creative Commons CC-BY licence that allows others more freedom to engage with IJPDS author’s research whilst still protecting the author’s moral rights, including:

• the freedom to use published research and associated benefits of using it
• the freedom to study manuscripts and to apply knowledge acquired from them
• the freedom to make and redistribute copies of the information
• the freedom to make changes and improvements, and to distribute derivative works

We also use the CC0 “No rights reserved” licence for publishing source data that permits its re-use.

Benefits of CC-BY

By removing the restriction on derivative works, CC-BY opens up more options for using the research e.g. new ways of representing scholarly articles through text-mining and visualization techniques or allowing articles to be translated into other languages, and encouraging engagement with manuscripts through wider use has clear benefits to the authors.

Protecting Authors

Publishing under a free license does not mean that authors lose all their rights, as the author retains the copyright for their manuscript. Any use of manuscripts published in IJPDS still require full attribution (i.e. giving credit and recognition to the author of a manuscript). Creative Commons licences require that no modifications to manuscripts should ‘be prejudicial to the Original Author’s honor or reputation’ (http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Frequently_Asked_Questions).

CLOCKSS

In order to ensure the long-term preservation of our author’s work, all manuscripts published in IJPDS are deposited into the CLOCKSS (Controlled LOCKSS) archive. Publications are preserved in their original format and are made freely available to all via open access. Click here for more information about CLOCKSS.

Green Open Access

Self-Archiving

IJPDS permits the self-archiving of both submitted manuscripts (pre-prints) and author’s accepted manuscripts (AAM) following full peer review, to enhance the availability of the research to the public via an institutional or disciplinary repository, or the author’s personal website. This applies to all manuscript types and includes conference proceedings.

Authors may deposit their manuscripts on a server operated by their institution (e.g. university), and/or to a subject specific, or disciplinary repository. Please note that, although IJPDS permits authors to deposit manuscripts to their own personal websites, long-term availability of the manuscript and visibility cannot be assured using this route and is, therefore, not recognised officially as open access.

Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving

• Restrictions may apply for re-use e.g. dependent on the individual manuscript or source institution
• When sharing your manuscript, authors must always include a link to the Digital Object Identifier (DOI) as published in IJPDS.
• The AAM version may be subject to further changes during the copyediting and typesetting stages of production.
• It is not permitted for authors to make significant changes to their self-archived work. The final manuscript as published in IJPDS is considered the final version.
• Authors may make preprints and AAMs publicly available under any license terms they choose. We recommend the Creative Commons CC-BY in line with IJPDS licensing.

The IJPDS accepts a wide variety of manuscripts including:

• Research articles
• Review articles
• Cohort development papers
• Protocol papers with a methodological focus
• Case studies
• Features on a particular topic
• Methodological developments
• Working papers
• Commentaries
• General reader summaries of complex topics
• Informative reports
• Comments and letters
• Help-sheets and tips
• Consultations
• Forthcoming, and reports of, events
• News items
• Job advertisements
• Opportunities for collaboration

The lead author must ensure that:

• A corresponding author is identified to be the point of contact with the journal throughout the process
• The submission is original work
• Any previously published extracts that are included in the manuscript are fully cited with permission
• This work is not under consideration by another journal or conference, or has been published previously by another journal or in conference proceedings
• The work will not be publicised or published elsewhere
• Any interests that could impair the credibility of the manuscript are disclosed in the cover letter to the Editor, to be uploaded with the submission
• Authorship conforms to the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) criteria
• If the manuscript is reporting a clinical trial, the trial conforms to ICMJE recommendations

Suggested reviewers
Please suggest up to 3 possible reviewers suited to your manuscript in your covering letter to the editor to accompany your submission.

The IJPDS adheres to the ICMJE’s 4 criteria of authorship (http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/roles-and-responsibilities/defining-the-role-of-authors-and-contributors.html):

• 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 revising 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.

To gain credit as an author, each of these criteria needs to be met. Each author is accountable for their own contribution, and any person meeting these four criteria should be listed as an author.

The responsibility of identifying who meets the criteria falls on authors (and not the journal). The lead and co-authors shall hold harmless Swansea University and the IJPDS as to warranties and representations of the author's ownership, originality, or similar breaches. Such indemnification shall last beyond publication of the article, as well as extend to all related claims.

Other contributions that do not meet the criteria should be acknowledged, with permission of the contributor.

Email confirmation of submission will be sent to each author, and any changes to authorship once the manuscript has been submitted must be notified to the journal with an explanation.

Addresses for all listed authors must be provided when submitting your manuscript using the ‘Affiliation’ field on the submission form. Addresses must include the name of the author, their organisation, department, city, and postcode. For multiple entries, please use a semi-colon (;) between each author’s details.

In accordance with ICMJE recommendations, the IJPDS will only consider publication of clinical trials if the trial was registered with a public trials registry at or before the time of first patient enrolment (i.e. the time of first patient consent). An acceptable registry must include the minimum 20-item trial registration dataset (http://prsinfo.clinicaltrials.gov/trainTrainer/WHO-ICMJE-ClinTrialsgov-Cross-Ref.pdf or www.who.int/ictrp/network/trds/en/index.html) at the time of trial registration and before enrolment of the first participant.  Secondary analyses of trials should not be registered as a separate trial; instead submissions of this type should include the trial registration number of the original trial.

Step 1: Create an Account

The submitting author needs to register with the online submission system. This is done by creating a user name and password and entering some personal details. Please refer to the privacy policy for further information.

The online submission system will guide you stepwise through the process, and you will be able to check the status of your manuscript at any time.

One author must be named as the corresponding author.

Step 2: Cover letter

Please include a cover letter with your submission, with the following information:

1. How you will pay the Article Processing Charge (APC) – self-funding or sponsored.

   If sponsored, you must provide the following details of your sponsor:

   • Name of organisation to be invoiced
   • Address of organisation
   • Name of contact
   • Email address
   • Phone number if available
   • Your purchase order number if required

   If you are self-funding your APC, you must provide the following details:

   • Name of author to be invoiced
   • Address of the author
   • Email of the author
   • Phone number of the author
2. Whether you are submitting your article to a Special Issue
3. If you would like to suggest up to three potential peer-reviewers to review your manuscript. Please note however, that ultimately the Editorial Board reserves the right to choose whether or not to contact suggested reviewers to ensure that the reviewer identity remains blinded to authors. To suggest reviewers, please include their names, affiliations and contact details in the cover letter.

Step 3: Upload your Manuscript

Manuscripts must be uploaded in an editable format: an OpenOffice, Microsoft Word or RTF document. If you are unable to use one of these formats, please contact the journal for advice.

If accepted, the manuscript will be published in a non-editable format and allocated a DOI number.

Please note that IJPDS uses plagiarism-checking software to verify the originality of submitted manuscripts.

Step 4: Metadata

Please enter the title of the article (and subtitle if relevant) and include keywords in the relevant section.

Terms from the medical subject headings (MeSH) list of Index Medicus should be used (see online: https://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/meshhome.html).

Step 5: Author Addresses

Addresses for all listed authors, and any translators if applicable, must be provided when submitting your manuscript using the ‘Affiliation’ open text box on the submission form. Manuscripts cannot be published without this information. Author details must include the following information:

• Title and full names of all authors
• Organisations
• Department, city and postcode
• Email address
• ORCID numbers (if applicable)
• URLs (if applicable)

For multiple entries, please use a semi-colon (;) between each author’s details.

Manuscripts should be submitted in Word (or other common easily editable format). Text must be single-spaced in 12-point font. Page and line numbers should be included to assist with peer review. Italics should be used for emphasis, rather than underlining (except with URL addresses).

All manuscripts must be written in English. We encourage authors to adhere to the word limit for each manuscript type (See 'Fee Structure' section below), but we appreciate that some manuscripts may exceed the stipulated word limit. In such cases, an additional charge of £50.00 for up to 5,000 words to cover typesetting costs. For manuscripts that exceed the word limit by more than 5,000 words, there will be a charge of £50.00 plus £5.00 per additional 500 words over.

Manuscripts must adhere to the IMRaD format and include all of the following:

• Abstract
• Introduction
• Methods
• Results
• Discussion
• Conclusion
• Acknowledgments
• Statement on conflicts of Interest
• Ethics Statement
• References
• Abbreviations

If the IMRaD format is inappropriate for the submission, please contact the journal for advice.

The guidelines for reviewers are available here

Abstract

All papers must contain an abstract of up to 300 words.

Research article abstracts should be structured using the headings: Introduction, Objectives, Methods, Results (including relevant statistics), and Conclusions. Other types of papers may submit an unstructured abstract.

Please use subheadings beneath main headings in the body of the manuscript. For example, if a number of different methods were used, give each of these a separate heading. The results from each method should also come under its own heading. Longer manuscripts should also include highlights in the form of 3 to 5 bullet points conveying the focus or findings of the article. These should be placed after the abstract.

Studies using observational routinely-collected data should follow the RECORD statement: http://www.equator-network.org/reporting-guidelines/record/.

Randomized controlled trials should be reported following the CONSORT statement and include a diagram illustrating the flow of participants through the trial (please see online for CONSORT checklist here: http://www.consort-statement.org/checklists/view/32-consort/66-title).

Meta-analyses and systematic reviews should be reported in accordance with the PRISMA statement (PRISMA checklist can be found online here: http://prisma-statement.org/documents/PRISMA%202009%20checklist.pdf).

Acknowledgements

To signify the importance of your research and create greater context, sources of awards for funded studies must be declared at the end of the submitted manuscript.

If the funder plays any additional role in the study, for example, in study design or data collection, this should also be noted. Authors should note the source(s) of their salary if they are required to do so by their funder(s).

Statement of Conflicts of Interest

Conflicts of interest can be personal, commercial, political, academic or financial.

Any actual or potential conflicts of interest must be disclosed by all authors by completing the ‘ICJME Form for Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest’.

If there are no existing conflicts of interest, this will be noted on the published manuscript as ‘None declared’.

Ethics Statement

All submitted research articles must include a statement that the study has obtained ethical approval, including the name of the ethics committee, the ID number of the approval and a statement confirming that participants (if applicable) gave informed consent before participating in the study.

If the study did not require ethical approval, this must be stated along with the reason why this was the case.

The Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) addresses issues surrounding breaches of research and publication ethics, and its guidelines define best practice in the ethics of scientific publishing (http://publicationethics.org/resources/code-conduct). This journal strives to adhere to these guidelines and we encourage authors to refer to them.

Data Availability Statement

All submitted research articles must include a Data Availability Statement at the end of your manuscript just before the references section. This will include details of where the data is located, what criteria are necessary to access the data, and a DOI/URL link to the data.

Examples:

• If the data are openly available in a public repository, please include the repository name plus DOI link or URL, and reference number.
• If the data derived from a particular resource in the public domain, please include the name of the resource and URL.
• If the data are available within your submitted article and supplementary files, please make this clear.
• If raw data were provided by a particular organisation, please include the name of data provider.
• If there is an embargo on the data, please include when the data will be made available and in which repository (include DOI or URL)
• If there are restrictions on accessing the data for privacy or ethical reasons, please state that these data are available on request either a) from the author [include name], or b) from a third part [name the third party plus contact details]. Please include that they are not publically available due to [state reason for restrictions], and you should also state whether use of the data is subject to license for research and that you were granted permission.
• If the data are available directly from the authors, please state this and provide the name of the corresponding author.

Where data are not available:

If you cannot share the data, you still need to include a Data Availability Statement along with the reason why this was the case.

Sometimes data are not available due to legal, ethical or commercial reasons, or if the study participants have not provided consent for their data to be shared publicly, or perhaps no new data was created or used in your research.

Please write a short statement to this effect stating the reasons why the data is unavailable.

References

References should be cited in Vancouver style (see ‘Citing Medicine: The NLM Style Guide for Authors, Editors, and Publishers, 2nd edition’: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK7282/ for guidance). Reference numbers in the text should be in square brackets.

DOI numbers and URLs
So that references can be linked, please include the DOI number (where present) of all references cited in your manuscript. When available, please also provide URLs for references.

Figures, Tables and Illustrations

Figures, tables and illustrations with legends must be placed within the text at the appropriate points, not at the end of the manuscript. These must be in portrait format and in 12-point for tables.

When providing tables, please make sure that you create a new table row for each row, rather than have multiple rows in one cell. Please avoid tables over one page in size, and putting lists into table format.

Please ensure that all figures, tables and illustrations are produced in high resolution for clarity.

Supplementary Files

You will also have the option of uploading supplementary files as part of your online submission. This could be research instruments (e.g. questionnaires), research materials, research results in full, transcripts, full data analysis, source texts, or other material such as Powerpoint files including screenshots or presentations, graphical/photographic representation of your work, or jpeg versions of conference posters. These must be limited to a maximum of 1Mb in file size.

Supplementary appendices intended for publication must be numbered and referred to in the manuscript (e.g. Supplementary Appendix 1).

When these are used, an additional section titled ‘Supplementary Appendices’ should appear in the manuscript before the References section, where appendices should be listed numerically along with a brief description of their content.

Publication of Offensive Language

As Population Data Science progresses, IJPDS acknowledges that an increasing use of a wide variety of qualitative data is a natural progression for data linkage research.

As these data are user-generated directly from participants, manuscripts may from time-to-time include offensive language when presenting raw data or transcriptions.

For research using datasets that may contain offensive, abusive, insulting, or hateful language (such as social media derived user-generated content), you may include the words in full if they are a) necessary to the study and b) direct quotes or transcribed interviews used preserve context.

Where offensive language is included, please asterisk, and include a footnote explaining inclusion.

Note: As a responsible publisher, all manuscripts containing essential offensive language will include an Editor's Note to highlight to readers that the article contains offensive language.

We advise authors to avoid using offensive language unless it is essential to the research in question.

Citing IJPDS

Authors are encouraged to cite the Population Data Science position paper and other relevant articles published by IJPDS, to advance the field.

Please include all of the following information when citing articles from IJPDS:

• Journal title as IJPDS
• Volume number
• Issue number
• Article number and page number
• Year of publication
• Figures, Tables and Illustrations

Data Resource Profile manuscripts must include the following sections in the order specified.

Title - Data Resource Profile: [add your title here]

Author Details – Full addresses of all authors must be included

Key Features – Include a maximum of 6 bullet points with one or two sentences for each using the examples below:

• What is unique about the dataset
• Why the dataset was created
• Details about the dataset: location, size, composition of the population
• Description of any data linkage
• Main categories of data
• How to collaborate and access the dataset [contact details]

Abstract (up to 300 words permitted)

• Introduction – A brief introductory summary of the dataset
• Methods – An overview of how the dataset was created including the original sources of data and linkage methods used.
• Results – Where the dataset is held, a brief description of the contents and data quality
• Conclusion – How to access the data. Suggestions of how the data could be used and for which areas of research. Any ongoing improvements that may be underway

Background – A detailed overview of the rational for creating the dataset and the various sources of data from which the resource was created.

Methods – Explain the data linkage methods used and each of the original sources of data in more detail. Include details of the study population.

Results – A detailed description of the dataset created including its structure, characteristics (e.g. demographic, clinical, social)and data quality.

Discussion – To include strengths and limitations of the data, any projects currently using the dataset, and suggestions for how the dataset could be used by other researchers.

Data Access – Details of where and how researchers can access the data including contact details / web links whether the data are available in a public open access repository, or available upon request.

Conclusions – Summarise the main conclusions and possible implications of using the data resource.

Acknowledgments

To signify the importance of your research and create greater context, sources of awards for funded studies must be declared at the end of the submitted manuscript. If the funder plays any additional role in the study, for example, in study design or data collection, this should also be noted. Authors should note the source(s) of their salary if they are required to do so by their funder(s).

Ethics Statement

All submitted research articles must include a statement that the study has obtained ethical approval, including the name of the ethics committee, the ID number of the approval and a statement confirming that participants (if applicable) gave informed consent before participating in the study.

If the study did not require ethical approval, this must also be stated along with the reason why this was the case.

The Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) addresses issues surrounding breaches of research and publication ethics, and its guidelines define best practice in the ethics of scientific publishing (http://publicationethics.org/resources/code-conduct). This journal strives to adhere to these guidelines and we encourage authors to refer to them.

Conflict of Interests Statement

Conflicts of interest can be personal, commercial, political, academic or financial.

Any actual or potential conflicts of interest must be disclosed by all authors by completing the ‘ICJME Form for Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest’.

If there are no existing conflicts of interest, this will be noted on the published manuscript as ‘None declared’.

Publication Consent

Written acknowledgement that you have gained consent to publish and openly share the data

Funding Statement

Details of the funder and grant number if applicable.

Data Availability Statement

All submitted research articles must include a Data Availability Statement at the end of your manuscript just before the references section. This will include details of where the data is located, what criteria are necessary to access the data, and a DOI/URL link to the data.

Examples:

• If the data are openly available in a public repository, please include the repository name plus DOI link or URL, and reference number.
• If the data derived from a particular resource in the public domain, please include the name of the resource and URL.
• If the data are available within your submitted article and supplementary files, please make this clear.
• If raw data were provided by a particular organisation, please include the name of data provider.
• If there is an embargo on the data, please include when the data will be made available and in which repository (include DOI or URL)
• If there are restrictions on accessing the data for privacy or ethical reasons, please state that these data are available on request either a) from the author [include name], or b) from a third part [name the third party plus contact details]. Please include that they are not publically available due to [state reason for restrictions], and you should also state whether use of the data is subject to license for research and that you were granted permission.
• If the data are available directly from the authors, please state this and provide the name of the corresponding author.

Where data are not available:

If you cannot share the data, you still need to include a Data Availability Statement along with the reason why this was the case.

Sometimes data are not available due to legal, ethical or commercial reasons, or if the study participants have not provided consent for their data to be shared publicly, or perhaps no new data was created or used in your research.

Please write a short statement to this effect stating the reasons why the data is unavailable.

References

References should be cited in Vancouver style (see ‘Citing Medicine: The NLM Style Guide for Authors, Editors, and Publishers, 2nd edition’: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK7282/ for guidance). Reference numbers in the text should be in square brackets.

So that references can be linked, please include the DOI number (where present) of all references cited in your manuscript. When available, please also provide URLs for references.

Abbreviations – a full list of all abbreviations and acronyms used in the body of the manuscript

Additional Formatting Guidance

Manuscripts should be submitted in Word (or other common easily editable format). Text must be single-spaced in 12-point font. Page and line numbers should be included to assist with peer review. Italics should be used for emphasis, rather than underlining (except with URL addresses).

All manuscripts must be written in English. We encourage authors to adhere to the word limit for each manuscript type (See 'Fee Structure' section below), but we appreciate that some manuscripts may exceed the stipulated word limit. In such cases, an additional charge of £50.00 for up to 5,000 words to cover typesetting costs. For manuscripts that exceed the word limit by more than 5,000 words, there will be a charge of £50.00 plus £5.00 per additional 500 words over.

Please use subheadings beneath main headings in the body of the manuscript. For example, if a number of different methods were used, give each of these a separate heading. The results from each method should also come under its own heading.

Figures, tables and illustrations with legends must be placed within the text at the appropriate points, not at the end of the manuscript. These must be in portrait format and in 12-point for tables.

When providing tables, please make sure that you create a new table row for each row, rather than have multiple rows in one cell. Please avoid tables over one page in size, and putting lists into table format.

Please ensure that all figures, tables and illustrations are produced in high resolution for clarity.

The guidelines for reviewers are available here

Supplementary Files

You will also have the option of uploading supplementary files as part of your online submission. This could be research instruments (e.g. questionnaires), research materials, research results in full, transcripts, full data analysis, source texts, or other material such as Powerpoint files including screenshots or presentations, graphical/photographic representation of your work, or jpeg versions of conference posters. These must be limited to a maximum of 1Mb in file size.

Supplementary appendices intended for publication must be numbered and referred to in the manuscript (e.g. Supplementary Appendix 1).

When these are used, an additional section titled ‘Supplementary Appendices’ should appear in the manuscript before the References section, where appendices should be listed numerically along with a brief description of their content.

Citing IJPDS

Authors are encouraged to cite the Population Data Science position paper and other relevant articles published by IJPDS, to advance the field.

Please include all of the following information when citing articles from IJPDS:

• Journal title as IJPDS
• Volume number
• Issue number
• Article number and page number
• Year of publication
• Figures, Tables and Illustrations

Notes on Population Data manuscripts must include the following sections in the order specified.

Title - Data Note: [add your title here] (the title must start with “Data Note: ...”)

Author Details – Full addresses of all authors must be included

Key Features – Include a maximum of six bullet points with one or two sentences for each:

• What is specific about this Data Note
• What is the project that is described in this Data Note
• What data set(s) were used in the project that is described in this Data Note
• What methods were applied on the data set(s) with regard to collection, sampling, recording, capturing, processing, standardising, cleaning, transforming, linking, integrating, and merging/fusing (as applicable).
• What are the specific data issues, problems and challenges described in this Data Note
• What are the lessons learnt and recommendations coming from this Data Note

Abstract (up to 300 words permitted)

• Introduction – A brief summary of the population data project described in this Data Note.
• Methods – An overview of the data set(s) used in the project described in this Data Note, and of the data collection, processing and linkage conducted on this / these data set(s).
• Results – The specific data issues, problems and challenges encountered in this project.
• Conclusion – A brief summary of the lessons learnt and any recommendations coming out of this project with regard to the data and its use.

Introduction - An introduction to the project upon which a data note is based, including a brief description of the data set(s) used, and the specific data challenges encountered in this project.

Background – A detailed description of the project where these data issues have occurred, including the aims and objectives of the project.

Methods – A detailed description of the data set(s) used in this project, including from where these data sets were sourced, how they were collected, recorded, captured, and/or sampled, how they were processed, standardised, cleaned, transformed, and (if applicable) how they were linked, integrated, and merged/fused. Relevant data quality aspects should also be described. The focus should not be on the description of a data set, but rather on the process of what has been done with this data from its source until it was research ready.

Results – A detailed description of the data Issues, problems, and challenges encountered in this project, and how these issues were identified and handled, as well as any data related mistakes that happened during the project. Approaches taken by the authors to turn their data into a form suitable for their project should be described.

Discussion – Describe the lessons learnt and any recommendations coming out of the project described in this data note. This is a crucial section of any Data Note as it will allow the reader to learn from problems encountered and solved by others.

Conclusions – Summarise the main conclusions of this Data Note.

Acknowledgments

To signify the importance of your research and create greater context, sources of awards for funded studies must be declared at the end of the submitted manuscript. If the funder plays any additional role in the study, for example, in study design or data collection, this should also be noted. Authors should note the source(s) of their salary if they are required to do so by their funder(s).

Ethics Statement

All submitted research articles must include a statement that the study has obtained ethical approval, including the name of the ethics committee, the ID number of the approval and a statement confirming that participants (if applicable) gave informed consent before participating in the study.

However, as is likely in the case of Data Notes, if the study did not require ethical approval, this must also be stated along with the reason why this was the case. An example of how this could be written is ‘Ethics approval was not required for this article as the data referred to has already been collected, processed, analysed and approved for previous research."

The Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) addresses issues surrounding breaches of research and publication ethics, and its guidelines define best practice in the ethics of scientific publishing (http://publicationethics.org/resources/code-conduct). This journal strives to adhere to these guidelines and we encourage authors to refer to them.

Conflict of Interests Statement

Conflicts of interest can be personal, commercial, political, academic or financial.

Any actual or potential conflicts of interest must be disclosed by all authors by completing the ‘ICJME Form for Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest’.

If there are no existing conflicts of interest, this will be noted on the published manuscript as ‘None declared’.

Data Availability Statement

All submitted research articles must include a Data Availability Statement at the end of your manuscript just before the references section. This will include details of where the data is located, what criteria are necessary to access the data, and a DOI/URL link to the data.

Examples:

• If the data are openly available in a public repository, please include the repository name plus DOI link or URL, and reference number.
• If the data derived from a particular resource in the public domain, please include the name of the resource and URL.
• If the data are available within your submitted article and supplementary files, please make this clear.
• If raw data were provided by a particular organisation, please include the name of data provider.
• If there is an embargo on the data, please include when the data will be made available and in which repository (include DOI or URL)
• If there are restrictions on accessing the data for privacy or ethical reasons, please state that these data are available on request either a) from the author [include name], or b) from a third part [name the third party plus contact details]. Please include that they are not publically available due to [state reason for restrictions], and you should also state whether use of the data is subject to license for research and that you were granted permission.
• If the data are available directly from the authors, please state this and provide the name of the corresponding author.

Where data are not available:

If you cannot share the data, you still need to include a Data Availability Statement along with the reason why this was the case.

Sometimes data are not available due to legal, ethical or commercial reasons, or if the study participants have not provided consent for their data to be shared publicly, or perhaps no new data was created or used in your research.

Please write a short statement to this effect stating the reasons why the data is unavailable.

Publication Consent

Written acknowledgement that you have gained consent to publish and openly share the data

Funding Statement

Details of the funder and grant number if applicable.

References

References should be cited in Vancouver style (see ‘Citing Medicine: The NLM Style Guide for Authors, Editors, and Publishers, 2nd edition’: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK7282/ for guidance). Reference numbers in the text should be in square brackets.

So that references can be linked, please include the DOI number (where present) of all references cited in your manuscript. When available, please also provide URLs for references.

Abbreviations – a full list of all abbreviations and acronyms used in the body of the manuscript

Additional Formatting Guidance

Manuscripts should be submitted in Word (or other common easily editable format). Text must be single-spaced in 12-point font. Page and line numbers should be included to assist with peer review. Italics should be used for emphasis, rather than underlining (except with URL addresses).

All manuscripts must be written in English. We encourage authors to adhere to the word limit for each manuscript type (See 'Fee Structure' section below), but we appreciate that some manuscripts may exceed the stipulated word limit. In such cases, an additional charge of £50.00 for up to 5,000 words to cover typesetting costs. For manuscripts that exceed the word limit by more than 5,000 words, there will be a charge of £50.00 plus £5.00 per additional 500 words over.

Please use subheadings beneath main headings in the body of the manuscript. For example, if a number of different methods were used, give each of these a separate heading. The results from each method should also come under its own heading.

Figures, tables and illustrations with legends must be placed within the text at the appropriate points, not at the end of the manuscript. These must be in portrait format and in 12-point for tables.

When providing tables, please make sure that you create a new table row for each row, rather than have multiple rows in one cell. Please avoid tables over one page in size, and putting lists into table format.

Please ensure that all figures, tables and illustrations are produced in high resolution for clarity.

The guidelines for reviewers are available here

Supplementary Files

You will also have the option of uploading supplementary files as part of your online submission. This could be research instruments (e.g. questionnaires), research materials, research results in full, transcripts, full data analysis, source texts, or other material such as Powerpoint files including screenshots or presentations, graphical/photographic representation of your work, or jpeg versions of conference posters. These must be limited to a maximum of 1Mb in file size.

Supplementary appendices intended for publication must be numbered and referred to in the manuscript (e.g. Supplementary Appendix 1).

When these are used, an additional section titled ‘Supplementary Appendices’ should appear in the manuscript before the References section, where appendices should be listed numerically along with a brief description of their content.

Citing IJPDS

Authors are encouraged to cite the Population Data Science position paper and other relevant articles published by IJPDS, to advance the field.

Please include all of the following information when citing articles from IJPDS:

• Journal title as IJPDS
• Volume number
• Issue number
• Article number and page number
• Year of publication
• Figures, Tables and Illustrations

Comments on published articles should be objective, constructive, provide new or useful information, an alternative viewpoint, or an alternative experience that would support its publication in IJPDS.

Letters should be short and concise with clear and specific points, and each point stated separately for ease of reading for both the Editor and for the authors to respond to the comments.

All comments must be substantiated, and not general or biased.

All criticisms should be evidence-based, courteous and dispassionate.

Format

Letters to the Editor must adhere to the following:

• Addressed to the Editor-in-Chief, not to the authors
• A short title about the subject of the letter
• 500 word limit
• No more than 2 tables / figures
• No more than 5 references
• A maximum of 5 authors
• Author/s names, email addresses and affiliations at the end of the letter
• A declaration of any competing interests below the references

Letters will be published at the discretion of the Editor-in-Chief based upon sufficient new, not previously considered points, or vital information that refutes or supports a paper, to justify publication.

Book synopsis - guidance

IJPDS publishes brief synopses of academic books of interest to the field of Population Data Science.

NB: These are not book reviews, which would focus on a person’s opinion of a book, but are to be presented as objectively and factually as possible from the content of the book.

All synopses must be approved by an IJPDS editor. If the synopsis is not written by the authors, it must also be approved by the author(s) before it can be published on the IJPDS site.

A synopsis should consist of text, with no tables or figures. It should be no longer than 1,000 words and be set out in a structured format. If some of the content is taken verbatim from the back cover or from the text of the book, this should be stated.

Book synopses typically cover:

• Book title – in full
• Publishing information – publisher, date, ISSN
• Authors and their organisational affiliations
• An image of the front cover
• Key message of the book – purpose of the book
• Brief overview summary – could be from the back cover
• Who this book is for - intended audience
• Synopsis by section/part and chapter – a summary of the content

Sharing the data that accompanies your published research is a positive growing trend for the research community. Whilst we recognise that it is not always possible to share all data openly for ethical or confidentiality reasons, IJPDS encourages the sharing of non-sensitive raw data along with details of the software used wherever possible.

Data Repository Options

1. Open access data repositories that are appropriate for the subject
You can deposit your data into a stable and recognised subject-specific repository of your choice. When selecting a repository please ensure the following:

• The repository allows full open access to the data and works to FAIR data principles
• They make the data accessible to IJPDS peer-reviewers
• They ensure and are committed to long term preservation and access to data
• Your dataset is assigned a globally persistent unique ID and is made publically available
• The metadata about the dataset is provided in formats that are accessible and easy to understand by people, whilst also being machine-readable.

When using this option, authors are required to include identifiers and database details in the manuscript submitted to IJPDS for publishing.

2. Funder-sponsored repository
Where funders have dedicated repositories for datasets used in their research projects, please ensure that you include identifiers and database details in the manuscript submitted to IJPDS for publishing. For example, the ESRC has data centres specific to projects they fund.

 

How to Present Your Datasets

When preparing your dataset for submission please ensure the following:

• All files are labelled clearly for readers to understand the contents.
• For authors based in the European Union, and for data pertaining to subjects in the European Union, the processing of datasets must be in line with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) that came into force on 25th May 2018.
• For authors outside the European Union, as well as meeting the above requirements (as relevant), your datasets must also comply with any additional requirements specific to your own jurisdiction.
• The processing of all datasets for deposit will need to meet the requirements of the UK Data Protection Act 2018, since IJPDS is a UK-based journal.
• When presenting multiple files as a group, please include a short descriptive title and a more detailed legend that describes each dataset. Each individual dataset must be clearly numbered and cited within the accompanying manuscript as for tables and figures.
• If specialist software is required to view or re-use the data, please include the details of this, plus how and where it can be accessed. Alternatively, please include the source code if you have coded the software yourself (if possible).

Where appropriate, data will be published under the CC0 licence “No Rights Reserved” that permits re-use.

For guidance on the ethics of sharing data, please refer to the following organisations:

MRC Ethics Series: Personal Information in Medical Research
DCC (Digital Curation Centre): Sharing Medical Data
UK ICO: Data Sharing Code of Practice

Data Availability Statement

All submitted research articles must include a Data Availability Statement at the end of your manuscript just before the references section. This will include details of where the data is located, what criteria are necessary to access the data, and a DOI/URL link to the data.

Examples:

• If the data are openly available in a public repository, please include the repository name plus DOI link or URL, and reference number.
• If the data derived from a particular resource in the public domain, please include the name of the resource and URL.
• If the data are available within your submitted article and supplementary files, please make this clear.
• If raw data were provided by a particular organisation, please include the name of data provider.
• If there is an embargo on the data, please include when the data will be made available and in which repository (include DOI or URL)
• If there are restrictions on accessing the data for privacy or ethical reasons, please state that these data are available on request either a) from the author [include name], or b) from a third part [name the third party plus contact details]. Please include that they are not publically available due to [state reason for restrictions], and you should also state whether use of the data is subject to license for research and that you were granted permission.
• If the data are available directly from the authors, please state this and provide the name of the corresponding author.

Where data are not available:

If you cannot share the data, you still need to include a Data Availability Statement along with the reason why this was the case.

Sometimes data are not available due to legal, ethical or commercial reasons, or if the study participants have not provided consent for their data to be shared publicly, or perhaps no new data was created or used in your research.

Please write a short statement to this effect stating the reasons why the data is unavailable.

A preprint is complete draft of a manuscript that has not yet been published or peer-reviewed that is made publically available via a preprint server.

Preprints allows authors to openly share their scientific findings rapidly whilst simultaneously undergoing the more lengthy peer-reviewed publishing process, with the intention of accelerating scientific knowledge.

IJPDS welcomes submissions of high quality preprints that are within scope of the journal.

Finding a Suitable Preprint Server

1. Select a suitable certified public server for your preprint. A list of preprint servers by discipline is available on Wikipedia
2. Make sure that the server provides a DOI. IJPDS cannot accept preprints without DOIs
3. Publish your preprint using CC BY 2.0 licence to ensure that your work is compatible with the IJPDS publishing licence and open access policy

Submitting a Preprint to IJPDS

Please use the standard submission process and ensure that the following information is provided.

1. It is the author’s responsibility to inform the journal about a preprint at the time of submission, providing full details of where the preprint has been posted. Always include the preprint DOI and a URL
2. On publication in IJPDS, a citation to the final published article that includes a DOI and link must be added to the original preprint in accordance with CrossRef

Submitting Data Preprints to IJPDS

Find a Suitable Data repository

Why publish preprints?

Preprints are a great way of openly sharing new scientific findings across the Population Data Science community and beyond.

• Preprints are often made publically available with seven days of submission making important research openly available immediately
• By ‘date stamping’ your research with a preprint, authors ensure that new discoveries are marked as being theirs
• Preprints are citeable
• Having evidence of your research through preprints may help towards securing future funding and can enhance academic advancement.
• Preprints can receive comments to help you improve the content and are a great way to open up possibilities of collaborating
• Preprints can be continually worked upon and updated until your manuscript is published in a peer reviewed journal.

Once you have completed your submission, you will receive confirmation via email. The corresponding author will take responsibility for the submission as it is being processed, for example, for responding to requests for further information or editorial queries. However, the editors will send copies of correspondence to all listed authors.

Initial screening

Following submission, the manuscript will be assigned to an Editor who will determine whether it is suitable for this journal.

Peer-review

Suitable manuscripts will be subject to peer-review, as appropriate for the type of submission. The Editorial Board reserves the right to choose the reviewers, and reviewer identity will be blinded to authors.

Following peer-review, the Editor will provide feedback to the author, based on the reviewers’ comments and recommendations. These might be to; accept, request minor revisions to, request major revisions to, or reject the manuscript. At this point, the manuscript will be returned to the corresponding author for response. The Editor will make a final decision based on the authors’ response.

Copyediting

IJPDS is keen to ensure a high standard and consistency in the language used in our articles. We operate a copyediting process prior to manuscripts entering production. Copyediting looks for

• consistency running through the paper as a whole story
• sentences that are clear and not confusing or convoluted
• respectful referencing to the work of others, even if the author disagrees with it
• no disclosive information is included that would risk revealing the identity of data subjects

The copyeditor will use track changes and comment boxes so the author can see them if they find anything that needs correcting, or querying.

The author then checks and responds to the copyedits and returns the corrected manuscript to the copyeditor.

If you have any queries about the copyediting process, please contact the journal office via contact@ijpds.org.

Copyediting checklist

The following copyediting checklist should be used as a guide for editors and authors:

• Authors have followed the Author Guidance on the site
• There is an Ethics Statement
• Authors’ details and affiliations are correct
• DOIs are provided for references where available
• The manuscript is structured with appropriate headings, but with flexibility allowing for different types of manuscript
• Spelling, grammar and punctuation are accurate
• The most appropriate tense should be used
• Importantly for IJPDS, data should be expressed as a plural noun
• All numbers (and all units, time, etc.) are correct and consistent throughout the paper
• Tables and figures are mentioned, and indicated to be positioned, accordingly
• All references are properly cited; all those cited are in the references list and vice versa
• Reference numbers should be in square brackets
• The reference numbers in the text are inside the sentence i.e. before the full stop, like this [7].
• Numbers 1-9 should be spelled out in words, as should any number at the start of a sentence. Exceptions are numbers in dates, tables, figures, headings and if they are used as units of measurement.
• For example (e.g.) and that is (i.e.) should not be conflated
• Split infinitives are to be avoided
• There should be no apostrophes on dates (e.g. 1990s) or abbreviations (e.g. ABCs)
• Too many acronyms should be avoided, and less common acronyms should be written in full each time
• Lists should be punctuated with commas, or with semi-colons if following a colon
• Sentences should not end with prepositions
• Please write dates in the manuscript text in this format: 3^rd June 2021

Production

Copyedited manuscripts enter production for typesetting in preparation for publishing. This involves reformatting your article to conform to the IJPDS style, and creating both PDF and XML / HTML versions of the article.

Supplementary materials will usually be published as PDF documents with no additional formatting. Tables that are larger than A4 size are likely to be included as a supplementary PDF.

Publishing

IJPDS publishes manuscripts on a continual basis the moment they are ready. As soon as your manuscript is published, you will receive an email notification, and IJPDS will notify its readership of the newly published article.

All manuscript submissions will be subject to Article Processing Charges (APCs). Whilst we endeavour to keep our APCs competitively priced for our authors, we must ensure the sustainability of IJPDS by covering all costs associated with the open-access publishing process, from initial submission through to final publication and promotional activities. APCs vary depending on the type and length of manuscript, and subject to 20% VAT. If a manuscript exceeds the word limit listed below, there will be an additional charge of £50.00 for up to 5,000 words to cover typesetting costs. For manuscripts that exceed the word limit by more than 5,000 words, there will be a charge of £50.00 plus £5.00 per additional 500 words over.

	Manuscript Types	Word Limits	Article Processing Charge (APC) (prices exclusive of VAT)
Band A	Research articles	3000 - 8000	£1,475.00
	Review articles	3000 - 8000
	Protocol papers	3000 - 5000
	Case studies	2000 - 5000
	Methodological developments	1000 - 4000
	Data Resource Profile	3000 - 8000
Band B	Features on a particular topic	2000 - 4000	£1,045.00
	Working papers	1000 - 6000
	Commentaries	1000 - 4000
Band C	Informative reports	2000 - 5000	£850.00
	Notes On Population Data	2000 - 5000
Band D	Letters to the Editor	650	£500.00
	General reader summaries of complex topics
	Consultations
	Help sheets and tips
Band E	Forthcoming, and reports of, events	500	£315.00
	News items
	Job advertisements
	Opportunities for collaborations
Conference Proceedings	Volume with up to 25 abstracts		£2,500.00
	Volume above 25 abstracts		£2,500.00 plus £55 per additional abstract

*All APCs shown do not include, but are subject to, UK 20% Value Added Tax (VAT)

**We appreciate that some manuscripts may exceed the stipulated word limit. In such cases, an additional amount will be charged to cover typesetting costs.

 

UKRI* block grants now available to fund Article Processing Charges (APCs)

IJPDS is a UKRI Route 1 policy compliant DOAJ open access journal. If your research is funded by UKRI* then you can apply for help with Article Processing Charges (APCs)?

The UKRI block grant may be available to its funded researchers to help pay article processing charges (APCs), enabling authors to comply with UKRI* open access policy.

The UKRI* stipulates that journals must meet the following criteria for publication:

• A peer-review process
• Gold open access - this allows immediate, unrestricted on-line access to peer-reviewed and published research papers, free of any access charge and with maximum opportunities for re-use
• Publish under Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) licence and allow immediate deposit in other repositories

IJPDS is fully compliant with UKRI's funding criteria as listed on SHERPA/RoMEO and in our author guidelines.

(*UKRI includes AHRC, EPSRC, ESRC, MRC, NERC, NC3Rs and STFC)

If a correction is necessary after publication, this must to be notified to the journal promptly.  We will then endeavour to publish a correction notice as soon as possible. If the corrections are significant enough to warrant a retraction of the article, republication may be possible at the discretion of the Editorial Board. In such cases a new version of the corrected article may be published, detailing the changes made, and any prior versions of the article archived.