2009 African Journals Partnership Project Meeting

David Ofori-AdjeiEditor-in-Chief

Ghana Medical Journal

Pittsburgh 5-6 May 2009

Ghana Medical Journal• Office space

• GMA House

• Staff• One part-time staff

• Equipment• Computers• Scanner• Printer

• Internet• DSL

Pittsburgh 5-6 May 2009

Chapter 1: GMJ• Established 1962• Publisher

• Ghana Medical Association

• Financed by• Membership dues• Advertisements

• Frequency• Quarterly

• Manuscript review process• Peer-review

Pittsburgh 5-6 May 2009

Chapter 1: GMJ –Editorial Changes

• Editors– Three new young editors (Child Health,

Surgery, Internal Medicine)

• Revive & Expand Editorial Board– Increase international members

• Internship– One (out of three) selected and started

Pittsburgh 5-6 May 2009

Chapter 1: GMJ - Production• Print issues

• Quarterly• 2000 copies• Delays mainly editorial

• Electronic issues• Quarterly • www.ghanamedassn.org www.ghanamedj.org • Precedes print issue

• Content• Consistency

Pittsburgh 5-6 May 2009

Chapter 1: GMJ - Content• Editorial/Commentary– Issue content/Subject of interest

• Original research– Five/issue

• Special Articles/Review Article– One/issue

• Case Reports– Two/issue

• Correspondence/NewsPittsburgh 5-6 May 2009

Chapter 1: GMJ - Submissions

• Manual Processing– E-mail– CD-ROM

• Online Processing– Started April 2008– Challenges• Corresponding Authors• Reviewers

– Honeymoon periodPittsburgh 5-6 May 2009

Chapter 1: GMJ Submissions

2006 2007 2008*

Total Submission 49 61 30

Number from Outside Ghana

11 18 5

Number Rejected 18 25 3

% Rejection 36.7 40.9 10.0

Pittsburgh 5-6 May 2009

Chapter 1: GMJ – Supporting Activities

• Training– Online submission– Scientific writing• Academics (Africa Partners & Mayo Clinic)• General Practitioners (to be sponsored by

Private Health Insurance Company)• Literature search (part of writing w/shop)

NMIMR Librarian

– Manuscript Reviewers• Proposed; Sponsor - AJPP

Pittsburgh 5-6 May 2009

Chapter 1: GMJ - Indexing

• AJOL– Not that active– XML challenges

• CABI Publishing• African Index Medicus• PubMed Central Archive• Medline (in preperation)• ISI (in process)

Pittsburgh 5-6 May 2009

Chapter 1: GMJ - Opportunities

• CPD credits (for re-certification)– Authors– Reviewers– Quiz (based on published articles)

• Surveys (re-inspired by 2009 CSE course on Journal Metrics)– Authors– Readers

Pittsburgh 5-6 May 2009

Chapter 2: Partners• SPi– Excellent relationship

• ManuscriptCentral– Basic system working well– Customisation and training– Author and reviewer surveys

• Lancet– High turnover of contact– Scientific writing slide set

• NLM– Digitization

Pittsburgh 5-6 May 2009

Chapter 3: Friends

• Tropical Diseases Research/WHO– Discussions on• Reviews for TropIKA.net• Commons• African Journals

• FAME– Quo vadis?

Pittsburgh 5-6 May 2009

Chapter 4: So what?

• Moving the agenda forward– An educational resource– Increased visibility– Sustainability– Capacity building• Role of partners (facilitators, skills tranfer)• Role of journals (exchange visits, joint

w/shops)

– Media engagement

Pittsburgh 5-6 May 2009

Thank You

Pittsburgh 5-6 May 2009

AJPP