Ethiopian Journal of Health Sciences

The first issue of the Ethiopian Journal of Health Sciences, published by the College of Health Science of Jimma University, appeared in July 1990 with the title 'Bulletin of Jimma Institute of Health Sciences'. The journal used to appear twice a year until July 2007. Thereafter, it used to be published trice a year until it became a quarterly publication in 2014. Since January 2016, it is appearing every other month. It is an open access journal available at https://www.ethjhealths.org . The journal publishes peer-reviewed articles related to Public Health and Medicine. The objectives of the journal are:

1. To provide current scientific and technological information on health and related fields for informed planning and decision making.
2. To contribute to the scientific knowledge and practices in medicine, public health and related fields by providing a formal means for researchers to share their scientific research works, observations and experiences.

Historical Summary

Hosted by Jimma University, the Ethiopian Journal of Health Sciences (EJHS) has been publishing peer-reviewed articles on a range of topics pertaining to public health and medicine. EJHS has always aspired to: 1) provide current scientific and technological information on health and related fields for informed planning and decision making, and 2) contribute to the scientific knowledge and practices in medicine, public health and related fields by providing a formal means for researchers to share their scientific research works, observations and experiences.

 The first issue of EJHS emerged in July 1990 under the former name of the journal, “Bulletin of Jimma Institute of Health Sciences”. Since then, EJHS made several strides to reach scientists, academicians, policy makers and other readers or users. In its journey from then onwards, EJHS underwent several quantitative and qualitative transformations. From its commencement to 1995, it appeared biannually with its initial name mentioned above. In those years, EJHS was characterized by changes in form, cover colour, contents and manuscript sources. Its form changed from A-5 to A-3 and its cover colour from yellow to white and then to blue. Its contents also varied significantly in quantity and quality. Yet, almost all the manuscript contributors during the stated period were from the then Jimma Institute of Health Sciences.

The next stage covers the years of 1996-2007 when EJHS suffered from sluggish development. The one noteworthy change then was the change in name from “Bulletin of Jimma Institute of Health Sciences” to “Ethiopian Journal of Health Sciences”. This coincided with the emergence of a full-fledged Jimma University. However, the biannual appearance, the A-5 size format and the blue colour were maintained. Besides, the quantity, the diversity and the quality of the articles published in each issue did not exhibit noticeable changes. Luckily, few authors from other parts of Ethiopia began contributing manuscripts although international contributions were yet to happen.

EJHS registered a commendable development from 2008 to 2013. The first two fundamental changes in this period were the change in format from A-5 to A-3 and the growth of the journal from biannual to triannual publication. The articles published in successive issues also improved substantially in quantity and quality. In 2008, EJHS joined African Journals Partnership Project (AJPP), which is funded by the US National Institute of Health/National Library of Medicine (NLM). With AJPP support, the Editor-in-Chief of EJHS became member of the Council of Science Editors. AJPP also helped EJHS partner with Annals of Internal Medicine published by American College of Physicians. In 2009, EJHS launched its own website where all publications are uploaded for open access.

In 2010, it began using ScholarOne-Manuscript Central software for manuscript management. This resulted in the termination of the submission of manuscripts in print copies. In the same year, EJHS it joined Committee for Publication Ethics (COPE), while it was indexed on PubMed Central, African Journal Online (AJOL) and EBSCO in 2011. In the end of 2012, it was indexed on MEDLINE.  Although EJHS did not win the competition to become member of International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) in 2011, it succeeded in 2013 as a result of which the Editor-in-Chief joined this international group. The international involvement helped to considerably increase the visibility of EJHS. The remarkable growth in the number of readers and the massive submission of manuscripts from all parts of the world witnessed this phenomenon. This in turn demanded an increase in the frequency of publications.

In response to this situation, EJHS evolved into a quarterly publication during its 24th anniversary in 2014. The continued increase in manuscript inflow still necessitated upgrading EJHS into a journal which publishes articles every two months. This progress is heralded with the publication of Volume 26, No. 2 (March 2016).

Vision

EJHS aspires to be the top preferred medical and health sciences journal in Africa by authors and practitioners.

Brief Information 

EJHS publishes original research findings, observations, review articles, brief communications, case reports and book reviews related to Public Health and Medicine, Papers presented at recognized conferences may be considered for publication. EJHS is an Open Access (Gold) Journal where readers have accesses to full text for free while authors are expected to pay to publish. However, as the publication cost is being covered by Jimma University (the owner of EJHS) for the coming few months, authors do not pay to publish. Authors must agree that published article to be distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License CC BY NC ND 4.0, which permits REUSE FOR NON-COMMERCIAL PURPOSE as far as authors give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. 

The journal used to get published biannually until July 2007; now it is appearing every other month. The language of the journal is English. All manuscripts submitted for publication are subject to peer review and will be sent to at least two experts in the field. Accepted manuscripts will be the property of College of Health Sciences of Jimma University. Those articles not accepted for publication will be returned to the author. The editorial board reserves the right to edit all manuscripts for clarity or structure, fit within the space available and decide on editorial matters. Statements and opinions expressed in the journal are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the Editorial Board or College of Health Science of Jimma University. Requirements for all categories of articles largely conform to the “Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals” developed by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) which can be accessed on http://icmje.acponline.org/recommendations/.