Quantitative Review Guidelines

REVIEWER CRITERIA CHECKLIST/COMMENTS FOR AUTHORS

This checklist includes general criteria for

• Research Articles
• Research Briefs
• Report
• Viewpoint
• GEMS

When writing your review, use line number(s) to identify where the comment refers. This checklist is for your guidance only and should not be uploaded into the review you submit. Cutting and pasting sections, accompanied with appropriate page line numbers, is acceptable.

For qualitative manuscripts, please use the Qualitative Review Guidelines.

Title
__Is a concise, accurate description of the article.

Abstract
__Format and length correspond with guidelines in JNEB
Research Article: structured abstract (200-word limit)
Research Brief: structured abstract (150-word limit)
Report: unstructured abstract (100-word limit)
Viewpoint: unstructured abstract (100-word limit)
GEM: none needed. Two to 3 sentences as a descriptor to send to potential reviewers.

__Subheadings correspond in content and order with guidelines in JNEB

Structured Abstracts (Research Articles)
A structured abstract organizes information with descriptive headings that begin flush with the left margin. Incomplete sentences are acceptable in a structured abstract for the sake of brevity. To facilitate selective electronic searches, structured abstracts include the following subheadings (verbatim), bolded and presented in the order shown here:
Objective: Specifies the primary purpose or objective(s) of the study and/or hypotheses tested.
Design: Describes the basic research design, methods used to collect data, timing and sequence of intervention, and data collection.
Setting: Describes the study setting.
Participants: States the number of participants or subjects/objects of observation by group and subgroup, describes how they were selected, specifies the response rate for participants, summarizes key demographic characteristics for each study group and subgroup, and describes the extent to which they represent the population from which they were drawn.
Intervention(s): Describes the essential features of the intervention(s) including setting, methods, and duration. If no intervention was conducted, omit this subheading from the abstract.
Main Outcome Measure(s): Specifies dependent and independent variables and describes how each variable was measured. In the case of descriptive research, replace this subheading with "Variables Measured." In the case of qualitative research, replace this subheading with "Phenomenon of Interest."
Analysis: Summarizes how data were analyzed quantitatively and/or qualitatively; specifies the level used to determine statistical significance of quantitative results.
Results: Summarizes primary results reported in the manuscript; includes the number of participants, the direction of change, and the variance and level of statistical significance for each quantitative result; includes confidence intervals or effect sizes wherever appropriate.
Conclusions and Implications: Specifies study conclusions directly supported by results reported in the abstract and specifies implications for research, practice, and policy making.

Structured Abstracts (Research Briefs)
Structured abstracts for Research Briefs include the following subheadings (verbatim), bolded and presented in the order shown here:
Objective: Specifies the primary purpose or objective(s) of the study and/or hypotheses tested.
Methods: Describes the basic research design, methods used to collect data, timing and sequence of intervention, and data collection.
Results: Summarizes primary results reported in the manuscript; includes the number of participants, the direction of change, and the variance and level of statistical significance for each quantitative result; includes confidence intervals or effect sizes wherever appropriate.
Conclusions and Implications: Specifies study conclusions directly supported by results reported in the abstract and specifies implications for research, practice, and policy making.

Unstructured Abstracts (Reports and Viewpoints)
An unstructured (conventional) abstract is written in paragraph form. It provides a brief overview of all key aspects of the manuscript. Topics covered in a conventional abstract depend on whether the manuscript describes a program and its evaluation, a new research method, or a review of literature or policy issues. All abstracts begin with a clearly defined purpose or objective and end with conclusions and implications for research, practice and policy making.

__Includes appropriate MeSH key words for indexing.

Introduction
__Summarizes existing literature relevant to the issue addressed.
__Describes the theoretical foundation or conceptual framework for the study.
__Explains why the research is important.
__Describes the program evaluated (if applicable).
__States the purpose/objectives and hypotheses.

Methods (Research Articles, Research Briefs)
For qualitative research, please use the qualitative studies checklist for your reference in the following sections.
__Describes the research design.
__Describes the sampling methods.
__Describes the recruitment strategies.
__Describes the measurement instruments.
__Describes the methods used to test instruments for validity and reliability.
__Describes the data collection procedures, and statistical analyses in enough detail for replication.
__Uses appropriate statistics. See separate guidelines for statistics.
__Reviewed and approved by an Institutional Review Board or similar human studies review board, with a full, expedited, or limited review and that written, oral, or implied consent and/or assent was obtained. (Alternately, exemption from Institutional Review Board approval must be stated.)

Results (Research Articles, Research Briefs)
__Specifies the number of subjects in each group/subgroup.
__Summarizes/contrasts each group/subgroup’s characteristics.
__Reports results in relation to specified objectives/hypotheses.
__Summarizes results in tables and figures cited in text.
__Indicates statistical significance for each finding.
__Includes an analysis of statistical power in cases where no significant differences are found.

Discussion (Research Articles, Research Briefs)
__Provides an in-depth interpretation of results reported.
__Compares and discusses results in relation to those from similar studies reported in the literature and in relation to theory.
__Outlines limitations of the study.
__Describes how study limitations influence interpretation of results.
__Offers alternative explanations for the findings.

Implications for Research and Practice (Research Articles, Research Briefs)
__Specifies how researchers, practitioners, and policy makers could apply results to future work.

Reports and Viewpoints
Introduction
__Summarizes existing literature relevant to the issue addressed.
__Describes the theoretical foundation or conceptual framework for the paper.
__Explains the significance of the paper

Discussion
__Provides an in-depth interpretation of issues presented.
__Compares and discusses issues in relation to those reported in the literature and in relation to theory.
__Outlines limitations of the paper.

Implications for Research and Practice
__Specifies how researchers, practitioners, and policy makers could apply these conclusions or viewpoints to future work.

Reports or Viewpoints developing new concepts or reviewing topics may include additional major sections as needed.

GEMS
Introduction
__Describe why the program/activity is worth reading about

Body/Content
__State the target audience and note adaptability of program to different audiences
__State the purpose/objective of the program/activity
__Describe how one would implement the program/activity
__Describe how the program/activity has been evaluated and with what results
__Describe plans for future refinement/use if applicable
__Describe the application or use of theory and/or models to program design and/or evaluation, if appropriate

References
__Are up to date.
__Are readily available to readers.
__Are formatted according to JNEB Guidelines. (Do not take the time to correct authors references; if they are not in JNEB Style, mention this.)

Tables and Figures
__Have appropriately descriptive titles.
__Are adequately footnoted so they can be interpreted without reference to text.
__Are formatted according to standard procedures outlined in the literature on how to present research.

Ancillary Material
__Ancillary materials needed.
Data collection instruments such as tests, surveys, interview scripts, and observation forms used in the study are included with submissions along with overlapping or related manuscripts in review, in press, or published. Including these materials with the original submission will expedite review of the manuscript. Reviewers will have access to data collection materials but not to related or overlapping manuscripts. It should be noted that Ancillary Materials are for review process only and so will not be published.

Supplementary Data
__Supplementary data needed.
Elsevier accepts electronic supplementary material to support and enhance your scientific research. Supplementary files offer the author additional possibilities to publish supporting applications, movies, animation sequences, high-resolution images, background datasets, sound clips, and more. It should be noted that Supplementary Data will be reviewed and published online, but will not be copyedited or typeset.

General
__Fills a clearly defined gap in the literature.
__Is within the scope of JNEB.
__Would be of interest to JNEB readership.
__Grammar is adequate.

Classification as a Research Article or Research Brief
__Satisfies all major criteria for a research article but involves a small or non-representative sample, thereby limiting generalizability of results.
__Satisfies all major criteria for a research article but reports on secondary or ancillary results from a study rather than primary results.
__Satisfies all major criteria for a research article; is not considered a high priority topic but would be of interest to some readers of JNEB.
__Satisfies all major criteria for a research article but these circumstances warrant a briefer presentation.