East Africa Science
Journal / East Africa Science / About the Journal

 

Publisher

The East African Health Research Commission (EAHRC).

Sources of Support

1. East African Community Partner States
2. United States Agency for International Development (USAID)

Peer Review

The East Africa Science (EASci) operates a double-blind peer review system, in which the identities of both reviewers and authors remain anonymous to each other.

EASci contains peer-reviewed articles, original articles, reviews, book reviews, short communications, surveys, commentaries, opinions on policy or practice, essays, reports, etc., from East Africa. It covers the wide range of subjects and issues in the health sector ranging from medicine, geo-medicine, dentistry, nursing, pharmacology, toxicology, pharmaceutical science, veterinary science, food science, health-related agriculture science, health professionals, etc., that provide evidence for improving health policy and practice.

When manuscripts are submitted for publication consideration to the EASci, manuscripts are first screened by members of the scientific editorial team. If manuscripts meet the minimum standard of the EASci are assigned four peer-reviewers. Submitted manuscripts undergo double-blind peer review. The EASci editorial board has created a pool of twenty-five (25) permanent peer-reviewers from all the six (6) East African Partner States. These permanent pools of reviewers, they meet once a year to discuss challenges and suggest recommendations to improve the peer review process. Apart from the pool of permanent peer-reviewers, The EASci also use scholars from National Health Research Institutions and teaching hospitals from EAC Partner States who both are stakeholders of the EAHRC.

Original Articles, Reviews/Meta-Analyses, Field Action Reports, Technical Notes, and Methodological papers are considered appropriate for publication when are reviewed with at least two (2) peer-reviewers. Short communications, commentaries, opinions on policy or practice, essays, reports are considered appropriate for publication when are reviewed with at least one (1) peer-reviewer.

We usually give reviewers fourteen (14) working days to review the manuscripts and submit their comments. The authors also are given fourteen (14) working days to respond to reviewers' comments. This turnaround time can be extended upon request from reviewers/authors. After authors have submitted their responses, Chief-In-Editor go through the authors' responses to make sure that the authors have adequately responded to all comments raised by peer -reviewers. If authors didn’t respond well to comments raised by reviewers, manuscripts are sent back to authors highlighting the discrepancies.
The role of peer reviewers is to recommend acceptance–either with or without revision or resubmission–or rejection of papers. In the case of discordant reviews, the Chief-In-Editor may seek review by an additional experts/reviewer. The Chief-In-Editors make the final decision regarding acceptance or rejection taking into account reviewers’ recommendations. Publication of articles by East Africa Science is dependent primarily on their rigour, clarity, and potential impact, as judged by peer-reviewers and the editorial team. The main criteria on which peer reviewers assess the manuscripts include:
• Importance and relevance of the topic
• Originality of the work that adds value to the existing body of knowledge
• Substance
• Sound study (or program) design and methodology (or implementation)
• Sound use of evidence
• Compelling conclusions that are actionable and based on the evidence presented
• Presentation and clarity of writing.

Manuscripts will be sent to a statistician for additional review if necessary based on recommendations from the reviewers and the Chief-In-Editor.

 

Open Access Policy

This journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.

Publication Scheduling

The journal is published once annually.

 

General

The East African Health Research Commission (EAHRC) is an Institution of the East African Community (EAC) established by the 5th Extra-Ordinary Summit of the EAC Heads of State on 18th June 2007. The EAHRC has been established as a mechanism for making available to the community, advice upon all matters of health and health related research and findings necessary for knowledge generation, technological development, policy formulations, practices and related matters. The Commission is the principal advisory institution to the EAC on all matters related to health Research and Development (R&D).