Enhancing the Quality and Visibility of African Medical and Health Journals

Peer-reviewed journals are a vital source of information exchange for researchers and clinicians in the medical and environmental health arena. The timely publication of credible research is integral to advancing the realm of knowledge in any given topic area. Many Northern Hemisphere journals have access to a range of resources to aid in timely publication: a database of potential peer reviewers, adequate staff and tools to produce each issue, and the funds to ensure publication. However, journals in developing regions such as sub-Saharan Africa usually don’t have these same resources. As a result, publication can be erratic, and important information may not reach the people who need it most. Now a multinational partnership of editors from science and medical journals, including EHP, is working to help African journals gain a greater voice on the scientific publishing stage.

of the Ghana Medical Journal), and Steve Morrissey (of the New England Journal of Medicine). Editors and representatives of the thirteen journals that make up the AJPP and representatives of the programme's various sponsoring and supporting organizations were also in attendance. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the AJPP, let me start with a bit of background.

Editorial: Environment and Health: Capacity Building for the Future

Environment and Health: Capacity Building for the Future

Peer-reviewed literature is the formal channel of communication for the scientific community. Through it, scientists convey their discoveries to one another across distance and time. Providing both a broadcast system and an archive, it is pivotal to the collaborative effort that is modern science. Without access to it, a scientist cannot keep up with develop-ments, has nowhere to contribute findings, and is pretty much out of the loop. One traditional problem of access to the literature faced by researchers and academics in developing countries has been the inability of their institutions to afford journal subscriptions, which can run into the thousands of dollars per publication. But things have been changing, with the last 10 years having seen important efforts to make the world’s peer-reviewed scientific journals available to these members of the research community either free or at a much-reduced price. Top-flight open-access journals have also come into being, theoretically making the papers they contain free for all to use. But is purchase price the only obstacle hindering the entry of the developing world’s researchers into international scientific dialogue?

Since 2005, EHP and other members of the African Medical Journal Editors Partnership Program (AMJEPP) have worked with counterpart African journals to increase the latter journals’ capacity and reach. Now Mali Medical, the African partner journal for EHP and the American Journal of Public Health, has taken a big step forward in getting its published research out to a worldwide audience by becoming the second of the African AMJEPP journals to be accepted for indexing in MEDLINE, the essential database for far-reaching distribution of biomedical information. African Health Sciences, the Ugandan partner journal for BMJ, was indexed prior to the formation of the AMJEPP. Due to the sustainability and capacity challenges typically faced by developing nations, the African journal partners have been hampered in their efforts to disseminate essential research information internally as well as internationally. The AMJEPP, currently funded by the National Library of Medicine and the NIH Fogarty International Center, pairs these journals with established journals in the United States and the United Kingdom that can offer guidance, training, and expertise (see “Global Collaboration Gives Greater Voice to African Journals,” EHP 113:A452–A454 [2005]). Thomas J. Goehl, EHP’s former editor-in-chief and one of the architects of the AMJEPP, sees MEDLINE acceptance as a highly promising opportunity for Mali Medical to move beyond the foundation it has established in local African countries and increase its presence internationally in biomedical research. “The editors and editorial board of Mali Medical have worked very diligently in developing the journal into one that has become a focus for the medical community in many francophone countries in Africa,” Goehl says. “With the inclusion of the journal in MEDLINE, the rest of the world will now have much easier access to the first-rate articles being published by Mali Medical.” Hui Hu, EHP’s international editor, agrees that making Mali Medical searchable on MEDLINE will allow it to be much more visible to the international audience. “This is a milestone step to the international community for Mali Medical,” she says. Adding to this increased visibility is Mali Medical’s recent inclusion in the International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) Register, the world’s most comprehensive and authoritative registration source for the identification of serial publications. This will allow the journal to be cited, abstracted, and indexed more accurately. Keeping in step with EHP’s ongoing mission to make environmental health science literature available to the largest audience possible, especially to those in developing countries, the journal joined Online Access to Research in the Environment (OARE) in January 2007. An international public–private consortium sponsored by the UN Environment Programme and Yale University, OARE provides web access to more than 1,000 scientific journals to developing, low-income countries for free or minimal cost. For more information on OARE, visit http://www.oaresciences.org/.

Orientation: Articles from three African psychology journals were reviewed to indicate their use and reporting practices of convenience samples.Research purpose: Method-relevant sections of empirical research reports (qualitative, quantitative, mixed method, etc.) were categorised to establish current method use and reporting practices as well as the methodological standards of convenience sampling in three African psychology journals from 2018 to mid-2020.Motivation for the study: Convenience sampling is the most popularly used sampling method in psychology. However, little attention is paid to sampling composition and sampling methods in articles, which influences trustworthiness, generalisability and replication of results. Psychology is also experiencing criticism because of the lack of non-Western, educated, industrialised, rich and democratic (WEIRD) samples.Research approach/design and method: A systematised review design was followed to purposively collect and categorise articles that used convenience samples as a sampling approach (n = 139) from the South African Journal of Industrial Psychology, the South African Journal of Psychology and the Journal of Psychology in Africa.Main findings: General reporting practices included sample size, gender, country, sample source (e.g. university) and age. Other sample characteristics indicate that studies were primarily conducted with South Africans speaking Afrikaans or English. English was mainly used to collect data from primarily black (African) and white (Caucasian) racial groups. Participants were largely female from university or college. Some sample differences such as sample size were also noted between qualitative and quantitative research methods. African journals’ reporting practices of sample characteristics were found to include standards and frequencies similar to or higher than those of international journals.Practical/managerial implications: Journals should pay attention to their role in influencing the reporting practices and standards of convenience samples and consider incorporating the presented categories.Contribution/value-add: The use of convenience sampling in African psychology journals is presented along with the potential of African research to provide non-WEIRD samples in psychology. Recommendations for improving the use of this sampling method are highlighted.

Objectives: This study aimed to map out African health journals using publicly-available information on major databases.Methods: The authors searched the African Journals Online Library (AJOL) and Scientific Journal Rankings (SJR) databases from their inception in 1998 and 1996 respectively to 17 October 2020, and identified African health journals. The authors extracted data on journal scope, PubMed indexation, open-access status, publishing fees, Journal Publishing Practices and Standards rating and bibliometrics. The data were compared with health journals from other regions using the Chi-square test and odds ratio.Results: AJOL had 173 health journals registered on its database. One hundred (57.8%) journals were actively publishing. Fifty-seven (32.9%) had a 1-star Journal Publishing Practices and Standards rating and 4 (2.3%) had 2-star ratings. 112 (64.7%) had no star rating. The journal scope spanned all aspects of health. Few health journals were PubMed (n = 20) or SJR (n = 22) indexed. On average, African journals had lower total publications (median [IQR]: 52.0 [29.0–74.8] vs. 140.0 [75.8–272.5]), total references (55.0 [19.5–74.8] vs. 160.0 [42.0–519.8]), and H-index (12.2 [5.0–14.0] vs. 39.1 [10.0–53.0]) (P=0.01) compared to other regions.Conclusion: African health journals face unique challenges that require targeted interventions.

Pharmaceutical advertisement of drugs is a means of advocating drug use and their selling but not a substitute for drug formulary to guide physicians in safe prescribing. To evaluate drug advertisements in Nigerian and other African medical journals for their adequacy of pharmacological information. Twenty four issues from each of West African Journal of Medicine (WAJM), East African Medical Journal (EAMJ), South African Medical Journal (SAMJ), Nigerian Medical Practitioner (NMP), Nigerian Quarterly Journal of Hospital Medicine (NQJHM) and Nigerian Postgraduate Medical Journal (NPMJ) were reviewed. While EAMJ, SAMJ and NMP are published monthly, the WAJM, NQJHM and NPMJ are published quarterly. The monthly journals were reviewed between January 2005 and December 2006, and the quarterly journals between January 2001 and December 2006. The drug information with regards to brand/non-proprietary name, pharmacological data, clinical information, pharmaceutical information and legal aspects was evaluated as per World Health Organisation (WHO) criteria. Counts in all categories were collated for each advertiser. Forty one pharmaceutical companies made 192 advertisements. 112 (58.3%) of these advertisements were made in the African medical journals. Pfizer (20.3%) and Swipha (12.5%) topped the list of the advertising companies. Four (2.1%) adverts mentioned generic names only, 157 (81.8%) mentioned clinical indications. Adults and children dosage (39.6%), use in special situations such as pregnancy and renal or liver problems (36.5%), adverse effects (30.2%), average duration of treatment (26.0%), and potential for interaction with other drugs (18.7%) were less discussed. Pharmaceutical information such as available dosage forms and product and package information {summary of the generic and proprietary names, the formulation strength, active ingredient, route of administration, batch number, manufactured and expiry dates, and the manufacturer on both the container and pack of the drug} were mentioned in 65.6% and 50% adverts, respectively. The product and package descriptions were provided in 57 (72.2%) Nigerian medical journals, which was significantly higher than in other African medical journals 39 (37.9%) (P<0.001). None of the drug advertisements in the journals adequately provided the basic information required by the WHO for appropriate prescribing. More guidance and regulation is needed to ensure adequate information is provided.

A group of African medical editors has set up a forum to support and strengthen medical journals in Africa. The forum, known as FAME, will be chaired by Dr James...

ABSTRACTThe study was conducted to examine the scholarly impact of health and medical journals in Africa. A descriptive informetric research approach was used to analyze 134 health and medical journals hosted in the African Journal Online (AJOL) database. Harzing's Publish or Perish (PoP) software was used to extract publication and citation indicators of the journals. These indicators include number of citations, number of paper publications, cites per year, cites per paper, and the h-index of the journals. The performance of the journals was equally examined in other major databases like Thomson Reuters and Scopus. Findings reveal that only 20 African countries contributed health and medical journals to the AJOL database, with Nigeria and South Africa producing nearly 70% of the journals. A ranked list of 29 journals was developed, with South African Medical Journal and African Health Sciences ranking highest in the list, respectively. Only 14 of the journals were found in Thompson Reuters, while Scopus indexes only 38.8% of the journals. These findings challenge the criteria Thompson Reuters and Scopus use in the selection of journals for their databases.

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine whether open accessibility of medical journals published in Africa may influence journals’ citation impact.Design/methodology/approachAn evaluative informetric research approach was used to compare 134 health and medical (H&M) journals hosted in the African Journals Online (AJOL) database. Harzing’s Publish or Perish (PoP) software was used to extract the following publication and citation data from Google Scholar: citation counts, number of papers and the h-index of the journals. Three null hypotheses were formulated to guide the study.FindingsA total of 65 open access (OA) and 69 non-OA H&M journals of African origin were found in AJOL. Only 20 African countries have journals hosted in AJOL, with more than 53% of them from Nigeria and 13.4% from South Africa. Findings reveal that non-OA H&M journals performed poorly in terms of citations compared with their OA counterparts. The t-test analysis revealed high significant difference in the citations and research impacts of OA and non-OA H&M journals published in Africa.Practical implicationsThe study will assist in collection development in medical and health libraries globally and in Africa particularly. The study will also be a useful guide to journal publishers, health researchers and health workers providing information on where to publish and the journals to subscribe.Social implicationsApart from adding to the body of knowledge in scholarly communication in Africa, this study will go a long way in influencing policies in H&M research in Africa.Originality/valueAJOL is the only online database hosting journals from all countries in Africa. Unfortunately, the quality and research impact of the journals in the database have not been adequately investigated. The paper adopted an informetric approach to evaluate H&M journals in Africa so as to provide wider insight on the contents and quality of the journals hosted in it.

Scientific publications play an important role in the scientific process providing a key linkage between knowledge production and use [1]. Africa’s health challenges and research needs have been well documented for many years now. Scientific publishing activity worldwide over the past decades shows that most countries in Africa have low levels of publication [1–10]. In the 1990s, the term “the 10/90” gap was coined to express the acute global imbalance whereby developing countries experienced 90 per cent of the world’s major health problems, but received only 10 per cent of its resources for health research [11–13]. The difficulties in research, publication, editorial bias, and information access facing Africa are profound and seem almost intractable [1, 14]. Richard Horton, editor-in-chief of The Lancet in his excellent discussion of this issue has highlighted some of the barriers to information exchange between North and South [14]. Lack of funding, poor laboratory, limited technical support, little available training, few tutors or mentors, no career structure, weak peer networks, diffuse relation between research and academic reward, and research biased to Northern interests are important factors affecting research production from Africa. The low proportions of published articles from authors from Africa have been reported in many research fields [1–10], and may be due to fear of rejection, uncertain about journal options, and no culture of publication to draw on. In addition, serious under-representation of editorial and advisory board members from countries with a low human development index in medical journals has been documented recently [15–17]. This editorial bias may be due to low interest in less-developed countries and reviews fail to take account of local research conditions. Another difficulty facing African researcher is dissemination of findings to other parts of the world. Most of the information published in African journals are largely not included in major databases. Access to technological tools, information access, and other equipment and supplies to ease the work is not always possible. Researchers in Africa are poorly paid [18, 19]. Many have to work in private practice to make ends meet. Many research units in Africa are struggling to cope with a “brain drain” of basic scientist and clinical researchers to developed countries which offer more opportunities and greater political and financial securities [20–23]. There is an urgent need to strengthen local research capacity in Africa, to tackle compelling questions about health and disease vital to enhancing people’s health, lives and livelihoods. More support should be provided by developed countries to Africa, for the advancement of local research efforts. This support should aim to improve the infrastructure of research in Africa. In addition, there is a need for Africa countries to develop and sustain research capacity by attracting, developing and retaining excellent scientists, providing and sustaining the infrastructure and equipment that high-quality research needs; developing strong research institutions with effective leadership, governance and management systems; sustaining a balanced research portfolio in the Africa and partner countries. Researchers from Africa should work effectively through partnerships internationally, nationally; regionally and locally to ensure that research agenda is relevant to Africa’s need and deliverable. There is a need for schemes to promote research as a viable career option and by giving more research awards and supplementing researchers’ salaries. This can be inform of non-bond research grants to PhD students studies in local universities that are have a good links to reputable institutions in the North. Researchers from Africa should join national, regional, and global networks. Developing computerized knowledge management systems to more accurately track research output including grey literature may help eliminate intellectual isolation. Health research priorities in Africa have often been determined by funders, institutions or individuals, rather than by means of a truly participatory and rational process. There is a need to strengthen the “African Voice” in determining the priorities for future health research. On a final note, I believe like others, that adopting a philosophy of friends-helping-friends and intellectual solidarity will help promotes a commitment to research to equity in health development in Africa.

The editorial materials in top medical and public health journals are opportunities for experts to offer thoughts that might influence the trajectory of the field. To date, while some studies have examined gender bias in the publication of editorial materials in medical journals, none have studied public health journals. In this perspective, we studied the gender ratio of the editorial materials published in the top health and medical sciences journals between 2008 and early 2018 to test whether gender bias exists. We studied a total of 59 top journals in health and medical sciences. Overall, while there is a trend of increasing proportion of female first authors, there is still a greater proportion of male than female first authors. The average male-to-female first author ratio during the study period across all journals was 2.08. Ensuring equal access and exposure through journal editorials is a critical step, albeit only one step of a longer journey, towards gender balance in health and medical sciences research. Editors of top journals have a key role to play in pushing the fields towards more balanced gender equality, and we strongly urge editors to rethink the strategies for inviting authors for editorial materials.

Journal Article Setting the Public Health Agenda on Major Diseases in Sub-Saharan Africa: African Popular Magazines and Medical Journals, 1981–1997 Get access Cornelius B. Pratt, Cornelius B. Pratt 1Cornelius B. Pratt (PhD, University of Minnesota, 1981) is strategic issues manager in the Office of Communication, U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, Washington, DC Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Louisa Ha, Louisa Ha 2Louisa Ha (PhD, Michigan State University, 1994) is associate professor in the Department of Telecommunications at Bowling Green State University, Ohio, and former research director at the Gallup Organization Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Charlotte A. Pratt Charlotte A. Pratt 3Charlotte A. Pratt (PhD, University of Minnesota, 1985) is project scientist, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Journal of Communication, Volume 52, Issue 4, December 2002, Pages 889–904, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.2002.tb02579.x Published: 10 January 2006