Editorial

Taking up the role of Managing Editor of the Journal of Interventional Epidemiology and Public Health (JIEPH) is both a privilege and a call to stewardship. I take over from Dr Sheba Nakacubo Gitta, who served as JIEPH’s Managing Editor until December 2025. My experience within the Journal’s editorial leadership, first as Deputy Managing Editor from October 2024 to December 2025 and then as Acting Managing Editor from January to September 2026, taught me firsthand how much this Journal owes to the people around it. It is with that appreciation that I approach this first editorial in my new role.

JIEPH was launched in November 2018 in Maputo, Mozambique, during the 7th AFENET Scientific Conference, as an online, open-access, peer-reviewed scientific journal published by the African Field Epidemiology Network (AFENET) [1]. It has since grown into an open-access journal that publishes contextually relevant evidence from Africa and beyond, without charging article processing or submission fees and letting authors retain copyright through a Creative Commons Attribution license [2]. These foundations, laid by the journal’s founders, publishers, previous and current editorial leaders, authors, reviewers, readers and institutional partners, are what we build on today.

Where we stand
Publication output has grown substantially. In 2024, JIEPH published 77 articles: 57 regular articles, 10 in the Rwanda Field Epidemiology Training Programme supplement, and 10 in the first volume of the 8th AFENET Scientific Conference supplement [3]. In 2025, it published 149 articles: 105 regular articles and 44 supplement articles covering Togo FETP, Sierra Leone FETP and Volume 2 of the eighth AFENET Scientific Conference supplement [3]. As of mid-October 2026, Volume 9 carries 170 regular articles and 34 supplement articles, a combined total of 204. The journal has cumulatively published 15 supplements and eight conference proceedings [4]. Recent supplements and proceedings include contributions from the Guinea and Uganda Field Epidemiology Training Programmes, the 2nd ECOWAS Lassa fever regional conference, and AFENET @20 commemorative special issues [3]. These figures demonstrate increased publishing activity; the next challenge is to translate that growth into sustained scientific quality and evidence use.

JIEPH’s visibility has grown alongside its publication output. The journal was added to the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) in April 2025 [2]. JIEPH’s indexing and abstracting coverage includes Scopus, CABI Global Health and CAB Abstracts; it also has a SCImago journal profile and is discoverable through EBSCOhost [5,6].

My ambition for JIEPH’s next stage is to build a global home for interventional epidemiology and public health, rooted in Africa’s field epidemiology community. Researchers and practitioners anywhere should be able to turn to the journal for rigorous, practice-relevant evidence on outbreaks, surveillance, public health programmes and population health.

The central question is therefore no longer simply how much we can publish, but how we strengthen the quality, visibility, influence, inclusiveness and sustainability of what we publish, and how that evidence moves into practice. Four connected priorities will guide this phase: expanding indexation and discoverability, improving scientific and public health impact, nurturing the next generation of scientists, and building a sustainable journal. Becoming a global home is the ambition that connects these priorities, rather than a separate objective. Scientific quality, research integrity, editorial independence and responsible publishing will underpin them all.

Expanding global visibility and discoverability
Researchers, public health institutions and programmes in Africa and around the world continue to generate valuable evidence through outbreak investigations, surveillance, epidemiological studies, laboratory systems, programme implementation and community interventions. Publishing that evidence is not enough if researchers, practitioners, policymakers and communities, in any country, find it hard to discover and use.

JIEPH is indexed in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) and African Journals Online (AJOL). Its content and metadata are also discoverable through Google Scholar, OpenAlex, Scilit and OpenAIRE, with Crossref supporting metadata dissemination [5]. Sustaining and extending this visibility is the next task. Respondents to the 2026 half-year post-publication author survey identified broader coverage in databases such as PubMed and Web of Science as an important priority [7].

Inclusion in indexing services is decided by external bodies and cannot be secured by aspiration alone. JIEPH will therefore concentrate on what lies within its control: consistently meeting the scientific, editorial, ethical, technical and publishing standards that wider indexation requires, including complete article metadata and timely publication. Our aim is not merely to enter more databases but to be a journal whose quality, consistency, transparency and reliability merit sustained inclusion.

Moving from publication to practice
Authors see JIEPH as a natural home for field-based public health work. In a post-publication survey conducted between 26 June and 1 July 2026, 25 authors from 15 countries across West, East, Central and Southern Africa reported a mean overall satisfaction of 8.9 out of 10. The mean likelihood of recommending JIEPH was 9.4 out of 10 and of submitting again 9.3 out of 10. Importantly, 88% said that publishing in JIEPH had enhanced the visibility of their work [7].

That reach already extends beyond the continent. Recent articles include a molecular surveillance study from a state public health laboratory in Mexico [8], and a commentary from the World Health Organization’s Health Emergencies Programme in Geneva, Switzerland, on our Sierra Leone mpox cohort study, which presents that experience as a model for preparedness in Africa and globally [9]. A review of mobile public health emergency operations centres by an author based in the United States with a co-author at Africa CDC, has drawn nearly 9,000 views on the journal website [10]. Authors in India have published a study of carbonated beverage knowledge and practice among medical students in Kerala [11], and authors in Pakistan a letter on over-the-counter medicine and antibiotic misuse [12], while authors from Yemen’s Field Epidemiology Training Program and national AFP surveillance programme have reported ten years of acute flaccid paralysis surveillance data from Sana’a [13]. Together these show a journal whose subjects extend from outbreak response to non-communicable diseases and antimicrobial resistance.

These findings encourage us, and they also challenge us to define impact more ambitiously. Readership, citation and inclusion in evidence syntheses matter, but bibliometrics alone cannot capture a public health journal’s contribution. For JIEPH, the larger question is whether evidence strengthens surveillance, improves outbreak preparedness and response, informs programmes and policy, guides resource allocation, supports teaching and training, and ultimately contributes to better population health, in Africa and wherever the work is used. The proposed public health emergency management curriculum published in the journal illustrates the kind of practice-oriented contribution we seek [14].

Our immediate contribution will be to encourage submissions that pair scientific rigour with clear relevance to public health action. We will ask authors, reviewers and editors to make three points explicit: what was found, why it matters, and how it could inform practice. Lessons from interventional epidemiology in African settings, including outbreak response under resource constraints, are relevant to health systems everywhere, and we want them to travel. We therefore need to ask not only how often articles are cited, but whether they are read, discussed, taught, translated into programmes and used in decisions. These steps can support evidence use; demonstrating changes in programmes, policy or population health will require evidence beyond publication metrics. Publication should be the beginning of scientific engagement, not its end.

Nurturing the next generation of scientists
Capacity development has long been part of JIEPH’s identity. Since 2021, the journal has hosted quarterly scientific-writing webinars and supported podcasts, workshops, French-language access and resources for researchers and authors [15].

The author survey provides encouraging feedback on editorial experience: professionalism of editorial communication and fairness of peer review each received a 96% positive rating, and respondents reported that reviewers helped improve the methodology, clarity and discussion of their manuscript [7]. These findings support the value of constructive editorial engagement and suggest that the developmental approach is reaching its intended audience. Our ambition is therefore twofold: to provide a platform for excellent science from Africa and the world, and to help develop the people who produce, review, communicate and use that science.

Developing scientific capacity begins with making standards explicit, applying them consistently, and giving feedback that strengthens authors’ methods, reporting and interpretation. It also requires a growing community of skilled reviewers, editors, statistical advisers and publication professionals from Africa and across the world. Reviewer development, mentorship and early-career editorial opportunities can help build that community. Continuing education can strengthen the use of appropriate reporting guidelines, responsible artificial intelligence and publication ethics, alongside scientific writing. These developmental efforts must also respect authors’ time: we need stronger manuscript triage, an expanded and supported reviewer pool, clear communication throughout peer review, and more predictable editorial timelines.

Becoming a global home
JIEPH’s roots in the African Field Epidemiology Network and Africa’s field epidemiology community are its distinctive strength, because applied, action-oriented epidemiology is where much of practical public health learning happens. Our aim is to share that identity: to welcome authors, reviewers, board members and readers from other regions, and to publish work from Africa and beyond that is useful to practitioners everywhere.

International reach must rest on consistent peer review, ethics and reporting standards, accurate and discoverable article metadata, and partnerships beyond the continent. The 2026 supplement from the ECOWAS Lassa Fever International Conference illustrates how such collaboration can assemble practice-relevant evidence. Produced with the West African Health Organisation and supported by partners including CEPI, WHO, KfW Development Bank, the World Bank and AFENET, it brings together work on surveillance, laboratory capacity, clinical management, vaccine readiness and cross-border coordination. Its guest editors span Burkina Faso, Benin, Liberia, Norway, Gabon and the United Kingdom [16]. Building on this collaborative approach means broadening the editorial board and reviewer pool and encouraging submissions from other regions, including field epidemiology and applied public health training programmes whose work the journal already welcomes [1]. The open-access, no-fee model remains central to keeping the journal accessible to authors and readers everywhere [2]

Building a sustainable journal
Sustainability depends on several dimensions that must develop together. Editorial sustainability requires a dependable, diverse and international community of editors, reviewers, authors and advisers. Scientific sustainability requires a steady pipeline of relevant, methodologically sound and ethically conducted research. Operational sustainability requires efficient workflows, reliable technology, timely communication and adequate staffing. Financial and institutional sustainability requires support models that allow the journal to meet its mission while protecting accessibility and editorial independence.

These dimensions are interdependent: growth, technology, funding and scientific quality cannot sustain the journal in isolation. Rapid publication growth without quality and integrity may bring temporary visibility but not lasting credibility. Strong submissions still require reliable systems to retain authors’ confidence, and adequate funding still requires a committed reviewer community. Technology can support these relationships but cannot replace the people and institutional commitments on which they depend.

A mutually reinforcing pathway
High-quality research strengthens the case for indexation; wider discovery can extend readership and create opportunities for evidence use. When those opportunities produce demonstrable value for authors, institutions and policymakers, they can support a stronger manuscript pipeline and a more sustainable institution. A sustainable journal can in turn invest in emerging authors, reviewers and editors, helping them produce stronger research. Each connection depends on sustained editorial quality, engagement and institutional support.

Quality and independence must therefore govern how we pursue growth. More indexing coverage is valuable only when supported by credible science; greater visibility matters when the evidence is relevant; and increased publication output must be matched by capacity development. Financial viability must enable, not compromise, editorial independence and scientific integrity.

Writing the next chapter together
JIEPH’s next chapter depends on researchers who entrust us with their work, reviewers who give their time and expertise, editors who safeguard quality and integrity, partners who support African scholarship, and readers who translate evidence into action. We will need the continued collaboration of ministries of health, national public health institutes, universities, research organisations, field epidemiology programmes, professional associations, development partners, practitioners and communities, and we will listen to them while staying faithful to editorial independence, scientific rigour, transparency and equity.

Our purpose remains clear: to build a global home for interventional epidemiology and public health, rooted in Africa and open to the world, where evidence is produced, communicated, shared and used. We invite authors to make the implications of their findings explicit, reviewers and editors to combine rigorous assessment with developmental feedback, readers to bring evidence into teaching and decisions, and partners to support accessible, independent publishing. Together, these contributions can create meaningful opportunities for the next generation of scientists and move the journal’s work from publication towards practice.