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Letter from the Editor

In 2012, 718 papers were submitted for consideration for publication in EMHJ with an acceptance rate of about 20%. Papers were received from 20 countries of the Region as well as from 26 countries outside the Region, a considerable increase from 2011 when only 10 non-regional countries were represented; this indicates the growing international reach of the Journal. Within the Region, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Egypt and Saudi Arabia were the top 3 countries submitting papers to the Journal, with 187, 96 and 68 submissions respectively. The time from acceptance to publication now stands at about 11 months but efforts are being made to reduce the total publication lead time further and in general we will be working to enhance EMHJ’s quality and relevance.

This final issue of 2012 includes papers on a variety of topics most of which have relevance to the five priority areas designated in Shaping the future of health in the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region: reinforcing the role of WHO. This document highlights the major health challenges for the Region, identifies the gaps in response, and presents broad strategic directions for WHO’s work in the Region for 2012–2016 with particular reference to the priority areas which are: health system strengthening; maternal, reproductive and child health and nutrition; noncommunicable diseases; communicable diseases; emergency preparedness and response. It also outlines what WHO will do to improve its performance and what Member States can do to help.

We would like to take the opportunity here to express our sincere gratitude to our respected reviewers for 2012, whose names can be found at the end of this issue. Their thorough and candid appraisals have helped inform our decisions on papers and are critical to maintaining the quality of EMHJ. We would also like to extend good wishes for 2013 to all our readers, authors, reviewers, and to editorial board and advisory panel members.