Focus and Scope

The SSMJ is the a multi-professional journal in the South Sudan which caters for the needs of Doctors, Nurses, Midwives, Clinical Officers, Pharmacists and all other cadres in the health profession. Its vision is to see a well-trained, skilled professionals delivering high quality healthcare to the population of the South Sudan.

The mission of SSMJ is to publish research and clinical guidance that will positively influence the development of healthcare services in South Sudan.

Peer Review Process

All articles are submitted by email to the journal at admin@southernsudanmedicaljournal. The Editor-in-chief and other members of the editorial team initially review the articles. If an article is deemed suitable for the journal – based on subject matter and relevance, and meeting submission guidelines – but has some issues to be clarified – it is sent back to author to amend. If it is not suitable, it is rejected at this stage.

If the article is deemed relevant, it is double-blind peer reviewed. The editorial advisor chooses, from the list of reviewers plus others according to their areas of expertise, one or two experts, to peer review the article using the reviewer guidelines.

The article is then sent back to the author to revise, if necessary, according to the peer reviewers’ comments. This draft is checked and, if necessary, edited, by the editorial team. Authors check and clear the final pdfs.

Publication Frequency

This journal publishes Quarterly (February, May, August, November).

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.

Sources of Support

This journal is supported by institutional contribution from NGOs, individual contributions and other donor support.

Plagiarism Statement

Plagiarism is “to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one's own: use (another's production) without crediting the source” (Merriam-Webster). Plagiarism is said to occur when ideas, key phrases or large chunks of text are taken from a literature source and the source is not properly cited. Copying a sentence from another work and merely replacing a few words in that sentence also is considered plagiarism. Authors who do not credit the original sources of ideas and phrases are guilty of stealing the original authors’ scientific contributions. 

All manuscripts submitted to the SSMJ will be screened for plagiarism, and those containing plagiarism will be rejected. Editors and reviewers will use their judgement concerning minor plagiarism when an author uses parts of an introduction from an earlier paper and even self-plagiarism, the reuse of significant, identical or near-identical portions of one's own work without citing the original version. If discovered after publication, a retraction will be made and statement published in the next issue.