Instructions for Pharos Authors
The Pharos welcomes submissions from both physicians and non-physicians. Authors do NOT need to be members of the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society in order to submit manuscripts; 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. All items submitted to The Pharos undergo a peer-review process before consideration for publication. Submissions may not have been published elsewhere or be under review by any other journal. Please refer to the detailed instructions for particular submission types below.
Manuscript Submissions
- Manuscripts may be about a variety of topics, including but not limited to: historical pieces, ethical and philosophical essays, biographical portraits, conceptual articles, narrative accounts, and reflective memoirs. Regardless of topic, we encourage authors to reflect on the Alpha Omega Alpha motto “Be Worthy to Serve the Suffering” and consider connecting their writing to this motto, whether in concrete or abstract ways.
- The Pharos does not publish research results or empirical data. That said, The Pharos will consider reflections and stories that exist in connection to a research project (e.g., the kinds of insights or stories that exist behind and around the project that could not be told in the empirical paper(s) about the research findings).
- Submissions should be in a Word (or equivalent) document (do not send as picture or PDF files).
- Manuscripts should be no more than 5,000 words.
- Manuscripts should be submitted in 12-point type, double-spaced, with one-inch margins.
- Please number all pages, and include line numbers. (For example, if using Microsoft Word, line numbers can be added under the layout tab by choosing “continuous” under the “line numbers” drop-down list.)
- All manuscripts should have a title page with the manuscript title, author name(s), corresponding author mailing address, email address, and statement about AI usage (see below under “Artificial Intelligence”).
- Manuscript submissions should NOT have an abstract.
- References should not exceed 20 unique items (see below).
- Do not use footnotes.
Poetry Submissions
- Due to the volume of poetry submissions, we ask that authors limit their submissions to one poem at a time. Do not send collections or multiple poems in a single submission.
- All poems should have a cover page with the author’s name, address, email address, and statement about AI usage (see below under “Artificial Intelligence”). If the poem has a title, please include that on the cover page as well.
- Submissions should be in a Word (or equivalent) document (do not send as picture or PDF files).
- Poems should be in 12-point type, with one-inch margins. Indentation, spacing of lines, etc. are at the discretion of the poet. While The Pharos cannot guarantee the exact layout of the poem in the final version of the publication, we will make every effort to preserve the poet’s visual structure of the poem.
Books Reviews and Announcements
- 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, textbooks, or books devoted to clinical treatment or developments in any specialty of medicine. Exceptions to this will be at the discretion of the editors. Authors of potential book reviews should first contact The Pharos at thepharos@alphaomegaalpha.org. We request that you do not submit a review without prior approval.
- The Pharos also publishes announcements of books published by AΩA members. Members should notify The Pharos within one year of publication date so we can include a citation in our list of new books published.
Photos/Artwork
The Pharos will consider photos or artwork submitted to accompany a manuscript or poem. Final decisions on artwork included with manuscripts or poems are made by The Pharos Art Director and Editorial team, and we cannot guarantee that images submitted with manuscripts or poems will be included in the final publication. Upon submission, the author must attest that any images are either owned by the author, are public domain, or that they have written permission for the image to be published in The Pharos. Upon final acceptance, authors must provide written copyright permissions for any images they submit. Captions should be included with any submitted images.
Artificial Intelligence
The editors of The Pharos understand that uses of artificial intelligence in publishing are evolving rapidly. The Pharos follows the World Association of Medical Editors recommendations on chatbots and generative artificial intelligence in relation to scholarly publications (https://wame.org/page3.php?id=106). All items submitted to The Pharos should include a statement on the cover/title page that explains in detail what AI tools were used, and exactly how they were used in the production of the submission. Where AI tools were used to draft new text, all prompts used to generate text or to convert text to images or illustrations should be included in an appendix to the submission. Upon submission, the author must attest that they have disclosed and described all uses of AI tools in the production of their submission. The editors of The Pharos reserve the right to reject any submission that they suspect did not disclose AI tool usage, or used AI tools in an improper manner in its production.
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 using superscript numbers, and cited at the end of the manuscript. Citations should be formatted using the Vancouver Style, which is described in detail at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK7256/
- Each reference should be listed only once, with multiple uses of a single reference citing the same reference number.
- 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. When citing websites, the most recent access date should be included with the 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 The Pharos at thepharos@alphaomegaalpha.org, or 720-859-4149.
All submissions should be emailed directly to The Pharos at thepharos@alphaomegaalpha.org.