FROM THE EDITOR

AJHPE special focus issue - call for papers: Innovations in health professions education during the COVID-19 era

Guest edited by: Dr Champion N Nyoni; Dr Werner Cordier; Dr Liz Wolvaardt

University of the Free State

COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic in March 2020, resulting in various strategies aimed at reducing transmission. Consequently, planned learning and teaching activities were disrupted - and in some cases halted -in many higher education institutions in Africa. Educators, administrators and students integrated innovations to their practice and/or research in health professions education during the COVID-19 pandemic. AJHPE calls for manuscripts for a special focus issue on 'Innovations in health professions education during the COVID-19 era'.

We are interested in the descriptions of innovations to educational practice and/ or educational research in health professions education during the COVID-19 era. Authors can submit their manuscripts as a short report or a full paper.

'Why I will never go back to my old practice': Short report guidelines

The purpose of this section is for authors to reflect on innovations to their educational practice and/or research during the COVID-19 era. The report should be up to 1 500 words and need not have ethics clearance. The following guidelines should be followed for short reports for this special focus issue:

Recommended headings

• Why was the idea necessary (what was the problem)?

• What was tried (intervention)?

• Lessons learnt

• What will I keep in my practice?

• What will I not do?

• Evidence of innovation (QR code)

All short reports for this special focus issue will be expected to be submitted with a QR code that links to a 3-minute video that reflects the evidence of the innovation being reported. Authors are asked to show evidence of their innovation in the form of, e.g. videos, artefacts, collages.

For tips on how to make a video and QR code, follow the link or scan

the QR code:

Click the link:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xcKzgOm70HqDvZ9Ed0zzmdFpcQdjyoNC/view?usp=sharing

Scan the QR code:

Full manuscripts/research

Manuscripts submitted as full research papers should have ethics clearance from an accredited institution, ethics body or ethics committee. The manuscripts should be a maximum of 3 000 words, excluding abstract and bibliography.

Research articles should typically describe the background, methods, results and conclusion of an original research study that is aligned to the theme of the special focus issue. The article should contain the following headings:

• Structured abstract

• Introduction

• Methods

• Results

• Discussion

• Conclusion

Guidelines for research articles and the submission process: www.ajhpe.org.za Important dates

The first closing date for the submission of manuscripts: 14 February 2021. Publication of the special focus issue: August 2021.