Get your Health Education and Behavior paper right the first time: a ready-made structure with the right abstract and citations, so editors see your science, not formatting slips.
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Authored by Sumalatha Gangadhar | Published on 13 August, 2026
Submitting to Health Education and Behavior goes smoothly when your draft already matches the journal's own rules. Editors screen new manuscripts against the Health Education and Behavior guide for authors before peer review, so formatting, structure, and required statements should be right on the first draft rather than repaired during upload. This template sets that structure up for you.
It is a manuscript shell aligned to Health Education and Behavior. It covers front matter, the abstract the journal expects, a body organized to the journal's article types, and a reference list in the journal's required style. Confirm current scope and article types on the Health Education and Behavior journal page before you draft.
Prepare the title, authors, affiliations, and ORCID iDs. Write the abstract to the journal's rule and word limit, organize the body to the article type, and apply the required reference style from the first citation. Complete every declaration (ethics, competing interests, funding, data availability) the Health Education and Behavior guide for authors lists, and cite figures and tables in order.
The common failure modes are formatting or reference style that does not match the guide for authors, missing required statements, and an incomplete portal checklist. Clear all three against the Health Education and Behavior guide for authors before you submit.
The shell mirrors what editorial staff check first: article-type fit, the abstract rules, required declarations, and the journal's reference style. For more detail see the author resources. When your draft is ready, upload it through ScholarOne (Manuscript Central).
| Element | Health Educ Behav requirement |
|---|---|
| Abstract | Unstructured narrative abstract of up to 250 words for Full-Length Original Articles and Policy and Environmental Change Articles; up to 150 words for Commentary and Perspective and Brief Reports; no abstract for Editorials. The abstract should not be structured in explicitly defined sections (e.g., Background, Aims, Methods, Results, Conclusions) but must follow a logical narrative addressing three questions: (1) What is the problem addressed? (2) What does this report add to the literature? (3) What are the implications for public health research and/or practice? |
| Main text | Full-Length Original Articles: up to 4,000 words; Policy and Environmental Change Articles: up to 3,500 words; Commentary and Perspective: up to 2,500 words; Brief Reports: up to 2,000 words; Editorials: up to 1,200 words. Word count applies only to the body of the manuscript (introduction, methods, results, discussion); abstracts, tables, figures, and references are not included in the word count |
| Declarations | Ethics approval/consent as applicable; competing interests; funding; data availability |
| Figures/tables | Publication-ready; cited in order |
| Supplemental | Upload separately when used |
| Keywords | No more than 6 keywords required |
| References | APA style (American Psychological Association Publication Manual, most recent edition). All references should be prepared in accordance with the format and style requirements of the APA Publication Manual |
| Peer review | Double-blind/double-anonymous. The journal explicitly states: 'Health Education & Behavior adheres to a rigorous double-anonymized reviewing policy in which the identity of both the author(s) and reviewer(s) are always concealed from both parties.' |
| Submission | mc.manuscriptcentral.com/heb |
Read the Health Education and Behavior guide for authors once before drafting and once before upload. Draft the abstract after results are stable. Set the reference style before adding citations. Keep a cover letter that states your contribution and fit to Health Education and Behavior in under a page.
Skim two or three recent Health Educ Behav papers to calibrate depth and figure style. Make the novelty clear in the first two pages. Deposit data and code when the policy on the Health Education and Behavior journal page requires it. Disclose any preprint or conference version with identifiers in the cover letter.
Do one focused pass against the Health Education and Behavior guide for authors: scope, length, reference style, required declarations, and figure quality. Then submit through ScholarOne (Manuscript Central).