About the Journal
Publisher
Center for Public Health Research and Information (PAMJ – CEPHRI), 3rd Floor, Park Suite Building, Parkland Road, Nairobi. PoBox 38583-00100, Tel: +254 (0)20-520-4356.
Peer Review
Available here: https://www.one-health.panafrican-med-journal.com/view/content.php?item=reviewers
At PAMJ-OH, we review all the material we receive. The editors of PAMJ-OH perform an internal peer-review at the end of which, a manuscript can be rejected, accepted, or submitted for external peer-review.
During the initial internal review, the editors focus on the overall look of the manuscript, adherence to journal standards, the quality of the written language. At this stage, we also focus on the topic addressed in the manuscript, its relevance to the journal audience, its originality, adherence to publication and research ethics. The overall methodology of the work is also reviewed at this stage to try to identify gross methodological shortfalls. Most of the manuscripts will not be send for external peer review at this stage to avoid spending valuable reviewers time. We may eventually request the authors to submit a revised version of their manuscript at this stage.
Initial internal review
The editor in charge of the manuscript conduct and initial assessment of the manuscript. This assessment aims to ensure that the submission adheres to the journal instructions for authors. The editors may decide at this stage to reject the manuscript.
1. Internal peer review
This review is conducted by a managing editor, a science editor or an associate editor to assess the relevance of the manuscript, its importance to our readership, its scientific quality, and eventually identify obvious or flagrant issues with the submission including in the ethical aspects. The managing editor, science editor, or associate editor (see the journal staff page) can decide at this stage to either reject the manuscript or request revisions. The internal peer review will also focus on the submission adherence to existing scientific writing guidances such as CARE, STROBE, PRISMA, etc.. Submission in the categories Case reports, Images in Clinical Medicine are usually not externally peer-reviewed, but internally reviewed the managing editor, a science editor, an associate editor or a member of the editorial board.
2. External peer review
The PAMJ-OH employs a single-blind peer review process where the author do not know who is the reviewer of his/her submission while the reviewer has all details of the authors of the manuscript and their affiliation.
PAMJ-OH uses online peer review to speed up the publication process. Submitted manuscripts will be sent to peer reviewers, unless they are either out of scope or below threshold for the journal, or the presentation or written English/French is of an unacceptably low standard.
A declaration of competing interests is requested from all reviewers through the online peer-review platform.
The ultimate responsibility for any decision lies with the managing editor or science editor in charge of the manuscript to whom any appeals against rejection should be addressed.
Authors can be asked to provide the contact details (including e-mail addresses) of at least 2 potential peer reviewers for their manuscript in case the journal is not able to identify appropriate reviewers because of the complexity or rarity of the topic under study. These should be experts in their field of study, who will be able to provide an objective assessment of the manuscript. Suggested peer reviewers should not have published with any of the authors of the manuscript within the past five years and should not be members of the same research institution. Suggested reviewers will be considered, as much as possible, alongside potential reviewers identified by their publication record.
To guide the peer-review process, the PAMJ-OH provides a checklist adapted from the Review Criteria for Research Manuscripts 2nd Edition (AAMC). the Reviewers are asked whether the manuscript is scientifically sound and coherent, how interesting it is and whether the quality of the writing is acceptable. Where possible, the final decision is made on the basis that the peer reviewers are in accordance with one another, or that at least there is no strong dissenting view. In cases where there is strong disagreement either among peer reviewers or between the authors and peer reviewers, advice is sought from a member of the journal's Editorial Board.
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
This journal publishes four volumes a year.
