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Established: March 19, 1994
1st Revision: April 17, 2013
2nd Revision: September 09, 2016
3rd Revision: July 1, 2021
4th Revision: December 8, 2022

Quality Improvement in Health Care (QIH) is the official journal of the Korean Society for Quality in Health Care (KoSQua) and provides academic research and the latest knowledge in fields related to health care quality and patient safety. This journal is published twice a year as an electronic journal on June 30 and December 31.


General requirements

1.1 Language and Academic Terminology
Manuscripts must be written in Korean or English for submission. Even if the manuscript is written in Korean, abstracts, tables, figure explanations, references, and acknowledgement must be written in English. For academic terminology, medical terminology must be based on the medical glossary (latest revised edition) published by the Korean Medical Association. The rule is to use the translated word if there is a translated word. However, if the meaning is not clear because the translation or the definition is difficult, the original word should be indicated in parentheses after the translated word the first time it appears in the manuscript, and only the translated word shall be used thereafter. If there is no appropriate translation, the original language must be used for medical terms, proper nouns, drug names, and units. For manuscripts written and submitted in English, the English correction certificate must be submitted to the editorial board.


Preparing the manuscript

2.1 Type of manuscript
The manuscript must be composed of opinions, original articles, review articles, case studies, brief communication, and letters on the subject of medical quality and patient safety. The editorial board can request review articles, brief communications, opinions , etc., with a specific subject.

The types of manuscripts include each of the following:
① Opinion: This is a manuscript that presents a new policy direction for health care systems and policies that may interest health care officials. It consists of title, author’s name, affiliated institution, main text, and reference. It does not have a spe main text, and reference. It does not have a specific format. cific format.
② Original Article: This is a manuscript in which the author empirically analyzes and presents original theories, research methods, and the discovery and interpretation of phenomena. This type of manuscript is composed of an abstract, int roduction, method, results, and discussion. References should include 40 papers or less and the abstract should be 300 words or less.
③ Review Article: This is a manuscript that raises issues, analyzes cases, and suggests alternatives, focusing on specifi c topics such as health care systems, policies, and overseas cases. This type of manuscript is composed of an abstract, introduction, body, and conclusion. References should include 100 papers or less and the abstract should be 300 words or less.
④ Case S tudy: This is a manuscript that can cultivate the analytical and judgmental skills necessary for the reader to make a decision by presenting a real or similar situation. The abstract should be less than 300 words, and the manuscript should include no more than 20 references, and six tables and figures.
⑤ Brief Communication: This is similar to an original article but is a shorter manuscript. It includes no more than 20 references, 300 words in the abstract, two pictures, and one table.
⑥ Letters: Letters contain readers’ opinions on previously published papers including the readers’ letter and the author’s reply. There is no specified format and references should be no more than ten.
⑦ How We Do It: This type of manuscript is aimed to introduce examples of practice where a health care organization applied novel and original methods to patient safety and quality improvement (thus termed How We Do It), thereby providing other health care organizations with practical references for emulation and further dissemination. Manuscripts should be formatted as follows: Title, Abstract, Introduction, Methods, Results & Discussion, and References. Word count: 2500 words (max). References: 20 references (max).

2.2 Writing manuscripts
Manuscripts should be written using MS Word, written on A4 paper with line spacing at two. There should be a 3cm margin on top, bottom, left and right. Font size should be 10 pt. The manuscript should consist of the following:

  • · Cover
  • · Abstract and keywords
  • · Body (Introduction, Method, Results, Discussion, Conclusion)
  • · Acknowledgement (if necessary)
  • · References
  • · Tables
  • · Figures

2.3 Cover
Cover shall include the following details and should be submitted as a separate file from the original manuscript.

  • · Title of paper: Write in bot h Korean and English.
  • · Type of manuscript: Specify the type as an opinion, original article, review article, case study, brief communication, or a letter.
  • · Author: List the names, affiliated organizations and position of all authors in both Korean and English. If there are multiple authors and affiliated organizations, the affiliated organizations and departments for each author should be indicated in superscript and written in order.
  • · Corresponding author: List the name, academic degree, postal code and address of the affiliated organization, nationality, telephone number and e mail address in both Korean and English.
  • · Acknowledgment: When necessary, include acknowledgments in English for contributors who are not co authors.
  • · Funding : If research grant was received, indicate the source and the research grant management code or number. If there is none, indicate as none.
  • · Number of words in English abstract

2.4 Abstract and Keywords
The abstract should be written in English. The content of the abstract should be organized as Purpose, Methods, Results, and Conclusion, and should be written in 300 words or less. In principle, informal abbreviations should be avoided, and minimized when inevitable. At the bottom of the abstract, writ e three to five keywords. For keywords, use the terms listed in MeSH (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh).

2.5 Body
The body should be written in the order of Introduction, Method, Results, Discussions and Conclusion. When citing a reference within the body text, the number of the reference should come after the name of the author, if it is available; if author name is not given, it should come after the last word of the relevant text. If there are more than two authors, include the last names of all the aut hors; if there are more than three authors, add ‘et al.’ after the last name of the first author. Number the references in the order they are cited in the body text and place them in square brackets [ ].
e.g.) Kim [1] is….[2-6].
e.g.) Kim and Lee [1] are…, Park et al. [3] have…
For clinical research or experimental animal studies, it must be stipulated that they were approved
by the board/committee the author is affiliated with under the research method.
(Example of clinical research)
This study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of the ABC University College of Medicine
(Approval No. 2020 1234). Consent was obtained from all subjects using an informed consent form.
(Example of experimental animal study)
This study has been approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees (IACUCs) of the ABC University College of Medicine (Approval No. 2020 4321).

2.6 References
Write references in English and list them in the order of citation in the body text. References are listed as follows : 1) For manuscripts, the last names and the initials of all authors, the full title of the manuscript, the full name of the journal, year of publication along with the volume and issue, first and last pages of the manuscript. 2) For a chapter of a book, t he author and title of the applicable chapter, the editor of the book, the title, number of editions, volume, place of publication (city), publisher, and the year of publication of the book, and the first and last pages of the applicable chapter.

Authors are responsible for the accuracy and completeness of the references. For references that are in the progress of being published, the title of the journal to be published and the year to be published should be listed. Articles that have been approved for p ublication after review completion but have not been published (not applicable if only received) should be indicated as ‘in press’ along with DOI. If the Internet is the source, indicate the correct URL. If there are seven or more authors, list only up to six and add et al. For matters not specified in this regulation, follow the NLM format http://www.nlm.nih.gov/citingmedicine

Papers in academic journals
Park JY, Lee YR, Lee ES, Lee JH. Focus gro up study on health care professionals’ experience of patient safety education. Quality Improvement in Health Care. 2020; 26 (2):56 9.

Woo JS, Kim YH, Yoon BJ, Lee HJ, Kim HS, Choi YJ, et al. The effects of accreditation program to the leadership, organizational culture, hospital management activities and performances focused on perception of accredited hospital professions. Korean Jour nal of Hospital Management.
2013; 18 (2):33-56.

Books
Hyung CJ, Gang CJ. Healthcare measurement scales. 2nd ed. Seoul, Korea: Korea Academies Press; 2012.

If the author is an organization
National Evidence based Healthcare Collaborating Agency. Comparative effectiveness research on anticoagulation therapy for venous thromboembolism after surgery in hip or knee replacement patients. Seoul, Korea: National Evidence based Healthcare Collaborat ing Agency; 2012.

Online data
Korea Institute for Healthcare Accreditation. Accredited organizations [Internet]. Seoul, Korea: Korea Institute for Healthcare Accreditation; 2015 [cited 2015 Jul 24]. Available from: https://www.koiha.or.kr/english/certif/ication/doList.act.

Research reports
Lee SH, Kim HM, Kim JH, Kim JB, Kang HJ, Shin HS, et al. Issues and improvement methods of hospital evaluation program. Seoul, Korea: Ewha Womans University; 2006.

Dissertations
Lee JM. Study on perception of fair reward affecting on organizational commitment and turnover intention of tele marketer [master's thesis]. Seoul: Chungang University; 2005. Yoo EK. An Ethnographic study about Sanhujori, the phenomenon of Korean postpartal care [dissertation]. Californi a: University of California; 1993.

2.7 Tables and figures
Tables and figures should be written concisely in English, and the contents of the tables and figures should not be duplicated. The title of the table should be aligned to the top left. Numbers should be added in the order cited in the body text, and if abbreviation pool or additional explanation is needed, use the symbols 1), 2), 3), 4) in order on the right side of the relevant content, with the contents of the corresponding symbol at the botto m of the table. Make sure that the total number of tables and figures is not more than seven. Indicate p (significant probability) to 3 decimal places and percentage (%) to 1 decimal place. Figures should be numbered at the bottom left of the figure in the order cited in the body text, and the figure file should be prepared with a resolution of 3 00 dpi or higher


Manuscript Submission

3.1 Initial submission
In principle, the manuscript and all data related to the manuscript are submitted by the corresp onding author using the electronic manuscript submission system on the website of the Korean Society for Quality in Health Care (http://www.kosqua.net/) or via e mail of the Korean Society for Quality in Health Care (kosqua@kosqua.co.kr). Submit the origin al copy of the Copyright Transfer Agreement and Conflict of Interest Disclosure and the Research and Publication Ethics Form.

3.2 Resubmission
Revised manuscript must be resubmitted within 30 days.

3.3 Revision of content and delegation
If necessary, the editorial board may revise the content of the manuscript within the scope without altering the objective of the original text. Other matters not specified in this regulation are subject to the decision of the editorial board.

3.4 Copyright
All copyrights related to the contents of the manuscripts are owned by the Korean Society for Quality in Health Care, and all authors, including the primary author, must sign a Copyright Transfer Agreement and Conflict of Interest Disclosure when submittin g the manuscript. Unless otherwise specified, the copyright is permanently owned by the Quality Improvement in Health Care. Some or all of the published manuscripts can be used for research or education with the citation for the original source unless for commercial purposes under the Creative Commons Attribution Non commercial License.

Copyright© by Korean Society for Quality in Health Care.
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