Journal of the Louisiana Public Health Association is a peer reviewed publication addressing issues within the fields of public health, community health, and health education and promotion, particularly focusing on work conducted in and/or specifically relevant to Louisiana. 

Mission

The Journal of LPHA is dedicated to the dissemination of research and best practices addressing public health issues in Louisiana and the Gulf South. 

Statement of Integrity

The Journal of LPHA is dedicated to the principles and practices recommended by the Committee on Publication Ethics.

DOWNLOAD THE LATEST VOLUME OF jLPHA HERE

Past Issues

Volume 4, Issue 2
Volume 4, Issue 1
Volume 3, Issue 3
Volume 3, Issue 2
Volume 3, Issue 1
Volume 2, Issue 1
Volume 1, Issue 1

Manuscript Submission

Submissions

jLPHA promotes open access in the scientific community and accepts articles on a rolling bases all year long. Accepted manuscripts include brief reports, notes from the field, program evaluation, secondary data analysis, policy assessment, and original research. For more information, view manuscript guidelines. Articles accepted for publication require no publication or handling fee.

Manuscript Spotlight

The “Spotlight” section of jLPHA is designed to call attention to specific programs, trends, research, and individuals driving public health in Louisiana. If you have suggestions as to future content, please contact: Donna Williams, Editor-in-Chief at dwilli3@lsuhsc.edu.

Peer Reviewers

Review Process
When an author submits a manuscript, the journal’s editors review it to ensure that it meets the guidelines and evaluate its appropriateness for the journal's readership. The manuscript then undergoes double-blind peer review. Please note that peer reviewers evaluate but do not edit the manuscript. Editorial staff members edit manuscripts for organization, grammar, style, format, clarity, and forward them to an editorial assistant. A proof of the accepted document is created and forwarded to the submitting author for review. Proofs must be carefully checked by authors and returned within three (3) days of receipt. Authors may offer suggestions on these edits but do not have the right of refusal. The journal’s editor makes final decisions on publications. The response time for manuscripts is typically 6 – 8 weeks from submission. All aspects of the submission and notification process are managed electronically.

Conflicts of Interest Statement
Conflicts of interest (COIs) exist when there is a divergence between an individual’s private interests (competing interests) and his/her responsibilities to scientific and publishing activities for which a reasonable observer might wonder if the individual’s behavior or judgment was motivated by considerations related to his/her other interests.COIs may influence the judgment of authors, reviewers, and editors; these conflicts often are not immediately apparent to others or to the reviewer. There are several types of competing interests. They may be financial ties, academic commitments, personal relationship(s), political/religious beliefs and/or institutional affiliations. As a condition of reviewing a manuscript, all declarations about COIs must be provided in writing. If any are declared, they will be published with the article. If there is doubt about whether a circumstance represents a conflict, it must be disclosed.

• Funding Sources. Sources of full or partial funding or other support for the research must be declared and should be described in an acknowledgement if the manuscript is published.
• Authors. All authors will be asked to report financial, academic, personal, and other COIs related to the research, and jLPHA will publish all COIs (or their absence) that are relevant to the manuscript being considered.
• Peer Reviewers. Reviewers will be asked if they have a COI with the content or authors of a manuscript; if so, they will be removed from the review process.
• Editors. Editors will not make editorial decisions or be involved in the editorial process of a manuscript submitted to jLPHA if they have a COI as described above.

Ethics Compliance Guidelines
Based on the Guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) Code of Conduct and Best Practices for Journal Editors, jLPHA adheres to the following ethical guidelines. At submission, authors must confirm that:

1. The work has not been published before (except in the form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture, review, or thesis).
2. The work is not under consideration elsewhere.
3. Copyright has not been breached in seeking its publication.
4. The research has been approved by an Institutional Review Board (if applicable).
5. The publication has been approved by all co-authors.

Plagiarism Policy
Journal of the Louisiana Public Health Association may use software to selectively screen article submissions for originality. Digital Archiving Journal of the Louisiana Public Health Association is commented to providing environmentally conscious journals in digital format, no paper copies are available. Current and archived jLPHA journals are preserved online to guarantee persistent access to journal content for the very long term.

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Editor In Chief

Donna L. Williams, MS, MPH, DrPH Associate Dean for Practice and Community Engagement Associate Professor, Behavioral and Community Health Sciences LSU Health New Orleans School of Public Health

Managing Editors

Editorial Board

Antoine Brantley, MPH
Evaluation Supervisor, STD/HIV/Hepatitis Program Office of Public Health, Louisiana Department of Health

David J. Holcombe, MD, MSA
Regional Administrator/Medical Director Louisiana Office of Public Health, Region 6 (Central Louisiana)

Candice A. Myers, PhD
Assistant Professor Pennington Biomedical Research Center

Stephen Murphy, PhD
Assistant Professor, Environmental Health Sciences Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine

Emily Nichols, MD
Director | Medical Director Emergency Medical Services, City of New Orleans

Stephen Phillippi, PhD
Associate Professor, Behavioral and Community Health Sciences LSU Health New Orleans School of Public Health

Jill Rush-Kolodzey, MD, MPH, DrPH
LSUS/LSUHSC-Shreveport MPH Program

Amy Thierry, PhD, MPH
Assistant Professor of Public Health Sciences Xavier University of Louisiana

Maeve Wallace, PhD, MPH
Assistant Professor, Global Community Health and Behavioral Sciences Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine