All submissions must meet established standards to be eligible for peer review and considered for publication. Submissions that do not meet these technical and quality standards will be automatically rejected without peer review.

 

Scholarly components

 

All submissions must be accompanied by a digital scholarship report that includes the essential components of educational scholarship:

 

Learning Objectives

List 2 to 4 learning objectives that describe knowledge, attitudes, or skills that learners are expected to gain from using your educational resource. Objectives should be specific, measurable, and begin with an action verb (e.g. Describe, Demonstrate, Differentiate). Click here for additional information on creating high-quality learning objectives.

 

​​​Description of Identified Need

Provide a brief description of the need for the educational resource. This may include relevant literature identifying educational gaps or may summarize a local needs assessment.

 

Statement on Anticipated Use

Specify how educators can best use your educational resource (i.e. as part of a flipped-classroom model, just-in-time clinical teaching, paired with facilitated discussion, or self-reflection).

 

Learner Assessment

Provide an assessment tool to determine whether learners have achieved the stated learning objectives. This may include multiple-choice questions, prompts for facilitated discussion, or self-reflection exercises. Assessment questions should align with relevant concepts presented in the educational resource. The length of the assessment tool should be commensurate with the learning objectives and educational content. Click here for further information on creating high-quality multiple-choice questions.

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Technical specifications and formatting requirements 

 

Video Quality

Videos must be of sufficient audiovisual quality to be considered for peer review. Visuals should not contain blurred or pixelated media. Audio must be audible and understandable. Videos should be free from background noise that affects the ability to adequately hear audio,  vacillating volume levels, distracting or inappropriate music, and/or uninterpretable audio content.

 

Video Format

• Accepted File Formats: MP4, MOV, MPG, and AVI

• File Size: 750mb (maximum)

• Frame Rate: 30 frames per second

• Codec: H.264

• Aspect Ratio: 16:9

• Frame size: 720 x 480 pixels or greater

 

Video Content

Each video should include:

• Title screen with video title and author name(s) and credentials

• Explicit declaration of any conflicts of interest or disclosures

• Learning objectives

• Chapters as applicable

• Content that follows best and current evidence-based practices

• Citation of all external media

• References 

 

Optional PowerPoint Template for Video Submissions

 

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Use of External Media

 

Appropriate citation and permission of external media is required upon submission of learning resource for review. Authors are required to upload evidence of appropriate open license or permission to use each instance of external media in the learning resource. This will include either: 1) the source, attribution, and Creative Commons license used or 2) explicit written permission to use the external media for this content. All external media should be appropriately cited in the learning resource detailing the terms/permission for use. See an example external media form here.

 

Use of Copyrighted Media

Authors are responsible for obtaining appropriate written permission to include media from any outside copyrighted sources. This permission must be obtained prior to submission, and is required to be included with the learning resource upon submission. 

 

Use of Creative Commons (“CC”) Materials 

Authors are responsible for choosing appropriate CC images and tracking source for attribution purposes.

• Creative Commons material is all owned by its creator but permission is granted for free use via CC license.

• Licenses:  Descriptions of the various CC licenses can be viewed here.

• Attribution: All CC materials MUST be attributed as indicated by the copyright owner. Here are some best practices for attribution of CC content.

 

Written Credit and Citations

Appropriate written credit/citations should be included in the learning resource when using outside media or references. Citations should follow AMA style. 

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Use of Patient Images/Video

 

Media that includes potentially identifiable patient images/video requires permission by patient/caregiver and consent for this use.

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Photographs, video or audio recordings which reveal the identity of patients can only be included if there is written permission and consent for their use. Authors are responsible for obtaining permission from parents, guardians, and patients, and an author attestation prior to submission. Authors may be required to additionally submit a de-identified copy of the signed consent/permission form. 

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Authorship

 

Authors must adhere to the authorship criteria as set forth by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (www.icmje.org), which includes the following four criteria quoted directly from their website:

• Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND

• Drafting the work or reviewing it critically for important intellectual content; AND

• Final approval of the version to be published; AND

• Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

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Quality Standards 

 

OPENPediatrics Scholar aims to accept submissions that adhere to best practices in multimedia design, ensure accessibility, and promote inclusivity. 

 

Principles of multimedia design

Authors must ensure that the learning resource adheres to best practices in multimedia design to optimize learning. An excellent resource describing the work of Dr. Richard Mayer can be found at the following link:

https://hilt.harvard.edu/news-and-events/events/research-based-principles-for-multimedia-learning/. 

 

Accessibility

Visual design of the learning resource must be optimized for readability, including use of a large, sans serif font with sufficient contrast. We recommend using a tool to test and optimize accessibility prior to submission, which can be found online or as a tool in many slide presentation software programs.

 

Inclusivity

The learning resource must contain visual imagery and language that promotes diversity. Images should ideally reflect the diversity of healthcare professionals, patients, and caregivers including, but not exclusive of, gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, age, abilities and disabilities, and location. Language should adhere to current best standards of inclusive language [https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/bias-free-language]. 

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Publication on External Hosting Platforms or Websites  

 

OPENPediatrics Scholar allows authors to retain ownership and copyright of their learning resources, as well as full publishing rights. This means that learning resources may be hosted on platforms outside of OPENPediatrics Scholar, including personal and institutional websites, and open access video publication platforms such as YouTube. OPENPediatrics Scholar utilizes the following Creative Commons license:

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• Attribution – Noncommercial (CC-BY-NC-ND): Others are free to share and adapt the work for noncommercial purposes with proper attribution.

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Most open access video publication platforms, such as YouTube, DO NOT ALLOW videos to be published on more than one channel as they will view this as copyright infringement. Therefore, if authors currently publish or plan to publish any portion of the learning resource content on an open access video publication platform, authors will need to decide upon submission if they will keep or publish the content independently or prefer the content be hosted exclusively on the OPENPediatrics YouTube Channel. 

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Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) Tools 

 

OPENPediatrics Scholar recognizes that generative AI and AI-assisted technologies are being explored and used to support the development of original educational products. AI tools should not be used as a primary means to create educational content, but may serve to assist authors in creating content. As such, AI technologies should be used with adequate oversight, careful editing, and meticulous review.

 

Upon submission, authors will be required to describe any AI tools that were utilized in the creation of any component of their submission. 

 

AI tools should not be listed or cited as authors. Authors are responsible for the quality, accuracy, and integrity of their work and are responsible for the originality of their scholarly product. 

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Disclosure of Conflicts of Interest
 

Authors must declare any potential conflicts of interest (financial, person, etc.) that may affect the information presented in the learning resources. A written and/or verbal disclosure statement must be contained in the learning resource itself. A disclosure statement must be included in every submitted learning resource, even if the authors have no conflicts of interest to report. In this circumstance, the authors may use the following statement “The authors have no financial disclosures or conflicts of interest that are relevant to the information included in this learning resource.”

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Use of Institutional Logos

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Authors are permitted and encouraged to use their institutional logos on their submitted learning resource. These institutional logos should be placed on the bottom left corner. The bottom right corner must remain free of any content for the OPENPediatrics Scholar logo to be added if accepted for publication.