Information For Authors

Interested in submitting to this journal? Authors need to register with the journal prior to submitting or, if already registered, can simply log in and begin the five-step process.

Submissions should be 1,000-5,000 words in length, APA format, and context related to public and community health. 

AI POLICY:

Pathways: Stanford Journal of Public Health does not accept manuscripts with text written by generative AI. Everything we publish must be the authors' own writing. Authors, reviewers, and editors remain fully accountable for their work, and all of us are expected to protect the confidentiality and integrity of the review process.

This means:

  • No AI-generated text: Do not use generative AI tools (such as ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini) to write or rewrite any part of your manuscript, including the abstract, body text, and responses to reviewers. This includes AI paraphrasing and rewriting tools.
  • Permitted tools: Spelling and grammar checkers, reference managers, and standard statistical software are fine and need no disclosure.
  • Other AI use: If AI assisted with something other than writing, such as literature searching or analysis code, name the tool and its purpose in a short statement before the references, and repeat it in the "Comments for the Editor" field at submission.
  • Authorship: AI tools cannot be listed as authors, because they cannot take responsibility for the work.
  • Accuracy and integrity: You are responsible for everything in your manuscript. Verify every claim, statistic, and citation. Do not fabricate data, quotations, citations, or images.
  • Privacy: Do not enter unpublished data about human participants, or other sensitive information, into public AI tools.

Example disclosure: "The authors used [tool] to [non-writing purpose, e.g., search for relevant literature]. All text was written by the authors."

Concerns and questions

Submissions found to contain AI-generated text, or to involve undisclosed AI use, may be declined or, if already published, corrected or retracted. Questions about this policy can be sent to tarynb@stanford.edu.