NEWS The Journal of Community Systems for Health is the name of a new scientific journal recently launched on the Library's Open Journal Systems (OJS) publishing platform to coincide with the annual Open Access Week, which this year has the theme ‘Community over Commercialisation’.
– Publishing a journal in this way gives back control of the publishing process to the researchers themselves and removes all costs for the researchers and readers according to the principles of Fair Open Access, note Prof Miguel San Sebastián and Dr Mazen Baroudi at the Department of Epidemiology and Global Health at Umeå University.
Prof Miguel San Sebastián and Dr Mazen Baroudi are two of the driving forces behind the creation of the journal and they are also its main editors.
Journal launch
Image– The plan for the journal started within the CHS-Connect network, a network of researchers from Sweden, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. The aim of the journal is to publish research findings that promote health in different communities, say Miguel San Sebastián and Mazen Baroudi.
Building on collaborations that have been ongoing for more than a decade, the network aims to support ongoing interdisciplinary conceptual development of community health systems and to build a base for future research collaborations along with broader and larger projects and grant ideas.
On 10 October 2024, the first issue was launched during a webinar with over 300 participants who showed great interest in the journal and the publishing model. In November, a major health systems conference will be held in Japan, bringing together researchers, policy makers and practitioners. The journal will also be presented there, where different models for publication will be discussed.
So far, the journal has functioned thanks to the voluntary efforts of authors, reviewers and editors. Some funding will be needed for this type of journal and we hope and believe that the interest that exists today in alternative publishing will also lead to increased opportunities to apply for grants for production costs from research councils, among others, say Miguel San Sebastián and Mazen Baroudi.
They also hope that the journal will inspire other journals in the field of public health by showing that it is possible to publish in a different way in academia.
The Journal of Community Systems for Health is the fifth journal to be published on the library's OJS platform.