Instructions for Pharos Authors
- Submissions may not have been published elsewhere or be under review by any other journal.
- Authors need not be members of ΑΩΑ; however, if the author is an AΩA member they must be an active member having paid either the current year’s annual dues or lifetime dues.
- Send submissions to thepharos@alphaomegaalpha.org.
- After peer review by The Pharos Editorial Board, the reviewers’ decision will be sent to the author. Every attempt is made to complete preliminary reviews within 12 weeks.
- The editors of The Pharos will edit all manuscripts that are accepted for publication for style, usage, relevance, grammar, and punctuation and may provide appropriate illustrative material. Authors should not purchase illustrative material because the editors cannot guarantee that it will be used. Permission information and captions must be included with any submitted photographs.
- In accordance with revised copyright laws, each contributor will need to sign an Author’s Agreement, which will be sent with the edited galleys. Information on copyright ownership and re-publication of articles is detailed in the Author’s Agreement.
Manuscript submissions
- Manuscripts should be no more than 15 pages (approximately 5,000 words), and should be submitted in 12-point type, double-spaced, with one-inch margins. All pages must be numbered.
- All submissions must be accompanied by a cover letter and a title page with the word count, return address, and email address of the author.
- References should not exceed 20 unique items (see below).
- Submissions should be in a Word document (not a PDF).
Poetry Submissions
- Due to the volume of poetry submissions, we ask that authors limit their submissions to one poem at a time.
- Poems should be in 12-point type, with one-inch margins, with the author’s name, address, and email address on the first page.
- Submission should be in a Word document (not a PDF).
Books for review
The Pharos publishes reviews of books related to the broad fields of medical humanities, including but not limited to history, philosophy, ethics, literature, sociology, economics, law, and anthropology as they relate to medicine and the experience of illness and healing. We do not publish reviews of personal memoirs or books devoted to clinical treatment or developments in any specialty of medicine.
If you have identified a book they would like to review, please contact The Pharos at thepharos@alphaomegaalpha.org. The Pharos publishes a limited number of reviews each year. Inquiries are welcome, but we request that you do not submit a review without prior approval.
AΩA members are welcome to notify The Pharos when they publish a book so we can include a citation in the list of new books published.
Photos/Artwork
Once a submission is accepted, the author must provide written copyright permissions for any photos or artwork they would like to accompany the manuscript. Permission information and captions must be included with any submitted photographs.
Reference Information
Authors are responsible for the accuracy of citations and quotations in their submissions. Once a piece has been accepted for publication, in addition to the references list, the author may be required to provide PDFs of books and other primary source materials if not accessible in online databases.
References should be double-spaced, numbered consecutively in the text, and cited at the end in the following standard form:
| (Journal) | Zilm DH, Sellers EM, MacLeod SM, Degani N. Propranolol effect on tremor in alcoholic withdrawal. Ann Intern Med. 1975; 83: 234-6. |
| (Book) | Harris ED Jr. Rheumatoid Arthritis. Philadelphia (PA): WB Saunders; 1997. |
| (Book Chapter) | Pelligrini CA. Postoperative Complications. In: Way LW, editor. Current Surgical Diagnosis and Treatment, Ninth Edition. Norwalk (CT): Appleton & Lange. 1991: 25-41. |
Each reference should be listed only once, with multiple uses of a single reference citing the same reference number. Sample articles from The Pharos (with correct reference form) are available on the Back Issues page of this website.
Citation of websites as references is discouraged unless a site is the single source of the information in question, or has official or academic credentials. Examples of such sites are official government web pages such as the National Institutes of Health. Encyclopedia sites such as britannica.com are not primary references. Wikipedia will not be accepted as a source citation.
Corrections/Retractions
The Pharos will correct any mistake inadvertently published in the journal. Requests for correction(s) should be sent to the Managing Editor who will review and write any necessary correction or clarification of published materials.
For more information, please contact Julie Passo at thepharos@alphaomegaalpha.org, or 720-859-4149.