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African Journal of Reproductive Health, Vol. 6, No. 1, April, 2002 pp. 7-8 Editorial After Five Years … Welcome to the Wholly African AJRH Rachel Snow* Professor, Department of Tropical Hygiene and Public Health, Medical School, University of Heidelberg, Im Neuenbeimer Feld 324D-69120 Heidelberg, Germany Code Number: rh02001 With the close of 2002, we are proud to mark the 5th anniversary of the launching of AJRH. From an idea born during a long drive through southern Nigeria in 1996, AJRH is now a fixture on the African scene! From the start, the hope of the founding editors was to publish the journal as an exclusively African product, and with this 5th birthday issue, I am pleased to announce the realisation of this hope. From the end of February 2002, the international office in Germany will close operations. And fittingly so, this date coincides with the wintry day five years earlier when Volume 1 Number 1 of April 1997 was sent to press! That first issue was published and printed in the USA, but since 1998 we began to transfer successive stages of the publishing activities to Nigeria. From fiscal operations to subscription services, printing, and finally to line editing and proofing, we can now calmly announce that a sister office in the North is no longer needed. At each stage of the transfer, challenges were solved or circumvented, and we got faster and more ingenious at hurdling the service and business sectors of the developing world. This birthday announcement is both sweet and proud, and there is much to speak for. Not only have we been able to accomplish our vision for total transfer to Africa within five years, but we have been able to maintain our commitment to the peer review process, non profit status, and to original research. I am perhaps most proud of the acceptance of AJRH into Medline after two years of publication due to the high standards brought to bear from authors and reviewers alike. Notwithstanding our interest in politics and review articles we have maintained our conviction that the greatest need for furthering scientific developments in Africa is a vibrant forum for original research, and we have maintained our focus accordingly. Testimony to this continuing need is the dramatic increase we have seen in both the number and quality of submissions from African authors. At this stage, two issues per year are insufficient to accommodate all the publishable papers we receive, and more and bigger issues are needed. Even a special three issues in 2001 leaves us with a backlog of papers waiting for publication. Looking forward, AJRH will continue to depend on the generosity of its donors for the foreseeable future, and the support of the Ford Foundation over these first five years is gratefully acknowledged. Fiscal self sufficiency remains a goal and subscriptions are a key to realising that goal. But these are hindered, in part, by the structural difficulties of marketing an African product across Africa. Creative ideas such as asking the large international organisations to undertake bulk subscriptions and distribution needs to be explored more thoroughly, and AJRH will need such help for the needed expansion of its reach. Prospects for shifting AJRH to a web based journal were explored in the opening years, but at that juncture it was felt that web coverage remained too thin across Africa to warrant such an investment. Rapid changes in web access in Africa are clearly changing that equation, and I hope to see AJRH online in the near future. As with any transition, numerous thanks are called for, and first among these go to my co editor, Friday Okonofua. Confidence in his leadership makes my departure easy, but will miss our editorial discussions. It is with some humour that I recall my reaction to his first mention that he wanted to start a journal, to which I think I answered something as indelicate as: “Start a journal, are you crazy, that much work will kill our research careers!” But it didn't quite, it has instead broadened the research landscape for each of us and for all those closely involved during these formative first years. So, thanks to Friday not only for his vision for AJRH but for all the unexpected intellectual and professional enrichments of this venture. Numerous people were indispensable to AJRH in these first five years, and while there are too many to name, let me offer a very public thanks to a few from the international side, namely, Mark Kaufman, our first publisher whose design stamp continues to grace AJRH, and our three successive managing editors for the international office, namely, Miriam Temin (Boston), Ute Hildenbrand and Eva Moos (Heidelberg). Heartfelt thanks and congratulations to each of them. Finally, I appeal to all our readers to continue supporting AJRH through manuscripts submission, peer reviews, and of course subscriptions. A journal is only as strong as the scholars who speak through it, and Africa has much more to say. From all of us in the international office, we wish AJRH a long life! Copyright 2002 - Women's Health and Action Research Centre |
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