The Eastern Mediterranean Health Journal, EMHJ, the flagship monthly publication of the WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean, has made a number of successful changes in the past year in an ongoing effort to improve in quality and relevance.
Foremost of these is that EMHJ has re-established its focus on public health with a mission to raise the profile of public health in the Region. It aims to provide evidence to inform the development of public health policies and programmes, to keep public health professionals abreast of new policies and initiatives in public health, and to allow the exchange of ideas and concepts in public health.
Other key changes are:
- A new Editorial Board and International Advisory Panel were appointed in 2013.
- Lead time from submission to publication has been significantly reduced, particularly acceptance to publication.
- EMHJ has been accepted for coverage in the Thomson Reuters Web of Science so by 2016, the Journal will have an impact factor. EMHJ continues to be included in Medline/PubMed as well as numerous other international and regional bibliographic databases and indexes.
- EMHJ has extended its content to include invited editorials and reviews, and summary reports of important EMRO meetings, with other sections under consideration.
- An online submission and peer review system has been introduced, streamlining the workflow
- More rigorous criteria for acceptance have been applied to ensure papers meet acceptable standards of scientific rigor and quality.
All issues of EMHJ are freely available on the Journal’s website. Visits to the website are climbing with half of the top 10 countries accessing the EMHJ from outside the Region. Those interested in receiving regular email alerts of the publication of new issues and other EMHJ news can register on the website or subscribe via RSS.
The Journal is now issuing a call for papers and is interested in receiving high quality papers with an emphasis on public health research and practice of relevance to the Region.