Purpose

A peer-reviewed, scholarly and multidisciplinary journal on global health policy and practice, promoting evidence-based and thoughtful discussion on effective and innovative approaches to global health from an integrated Christian perspective. 

Goals

  • Articulation and dissemination of evidence-based best practices among health-related institutions and Christian faith-based organizations (FBOs) leading to better health outcomes for the world’s underserved populations.
  • Improved understanding of intercultural work undertaken by the Christian health mission sector in the context of health care and promotion for greater impact.
  • Increased world-wide exposure to the innovations, experiences and perspectives of faith-based global health workers, and enhancing their professional development.
  • Enhanced measurement and evaluation of outcomes for programs and initiatives to maximize stewardship and improve results in resource-constrained regions.  
  • Deepened understanding of the global Church in its role in health and healing.
  • Integrated public health, community development, biomedicine and theology in order to strengthen a wholistic multi-ethnic response to global health.

Focus and Scope

The Journal publishes evidence-based and thoughtful discussion related to Christian approaches to global health care and promotion throughout the world.  The broad scope of the journal allows input on various aspects of Global Health and facilitates broad based learning and sharing within a scholarly framework.  Topics include:

  • Community and Public Health (Health Promotion/Prevention, Nutrition and Food Security, Environmental Health, Maternal and Child Health, Community Development)
  • Health Care Services (Primary Health Care, Surgical Service, Disaster and Emergency, Rehabilitative services, Mental Health, Palliative Care)
  • Organization (Administration and Finance, Policy and Advocacy, Workforce)
  • Mission and Health (Theology, Evangelism, Transformational Development)
  • Conditions of Special Interest (HIV/AIDS, Non-Communicable Disease, Neglected Tropical Diseases)

 The Journal  provides a variety of articles including:

  • Original Research
  • Commentaries
  • Review Articles
  • Editorials
  • Case studies
  • Case Reports
  • Study Design Articles
  • Short Communications/Field Reports
  • Current Debates
  • Opinion Pieces
  • Training Materials and Tools
  • Book Reviews
  • Journal Article Reviews
  • Conference Summaries
  • Poetry
  • Art

Peer Review Process 

Unbiased, independent, critical assessment is an intrinsic part of all scholarly work, including scientific investigation and theological reflection. The peer reviewers are experts in their field and thus are an important extension of the scholarly process.

Peer review of submissions and editing will be carried out by section editors and selected reviewers prior to publication. The purpose of this review is to assure that submissions meet the rigorous scientific, ethical and theological standards of the Journal. The peer review process entails the following:

1. The Author submits the manuscript electronically according to Author Guidelines.

2. The Journal editors shall determine if the articles are within the scope of, and appropriate for consideration by, the Journal.

3. All submissions that require peer review shall be sent out for review electronically to section editors and reviewers with expertise in the appropriate field.

4. All submissions shall be reviewed by at least two independent referees in a timely fashion.

5. Identity of the referee and author shall not normally be disclosed to either party, except at the discretion of the Editor. Such “double blind” review eliminates bias against less-known authors and bias in favor of well-known authors.

6. Standard review criteria will be applied in the review process.

7. The two referees shall electronically submit their views to the Editor. If they lack consensus, a third referee may be involved.

8. The peer review process will conclude in one of the following categories:

  •  Accept submission without changes
  •  Minor revisions with a view to accept if the revisions are appropriate and within a stipulated time.
  •  Recommend major revisions with an option to resubmit for another review round (within a stipulated time)
  •  Reject submission – either because it fails to meet standards, or if it is better suited to another journal

The Editors make the final decision regarding acceptance or rejection taking into account reviewers’ recommendations. We aim to issue a final decision on all articles within 12 weeks of submission.

 The author can submit an appeal to the Editors if they feel their submission was not been dealt with fairly.  A group from the editorial board will consider such appeals.

 The article processing charge is collected once the decision to accept for publication is rendered [NOTE: this charge is waived through 2017]. 

Publication Frequency 

Journal items can be published collectively semi-annually, as part of an issue with its own Table of Contents. Alternatively, individual items can be published as soon as they are ready, by adding them to the "current" volume's Table of Contents. 

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.  This in-turn leads to healthier lives for those around the world.

We believe that authors should retain copyright to the article they have worked so hard to produce. This is an Open Access journal which means that all content is freely available without charge to the user or his/her institution. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author.

Authors are also free to make derivative works (alter, transform, or build upon), but the derivative work must be attributed to the author and to the Christian Journal for Global Health.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.  

Archiving

This journal utilizes the LOCKSS system to create a distributed archiving system among participating libraries and permits those libraries to create permanent archives of the journal for purposes of preservation and restoration. More...

Articles are currently being processed to be archived in full text XML with PubMedCentral

Authorship, Support & Conflict of Interest 

Authorship credit should be based only on: (1) substantial contributions to conception and design, or acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data; (2) drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content; and (3) final approval of the version to be published. See How to handle authorship disputes: a guide for new researchers 

Contributors and financial support sources should be acknowledged in the article, even if they do not meet the criteria for authorship. 

Declaration of conflicting interests on any competing financial, copywright or other interest in relation to their paper, in accordance with the ICMJE unified disclosure form. All declared competing interests, or a statement indicating that there are no competing interests if appropriate, will be listed at the end of published articles.

A conflict of interest exists when professional judgment concerning a primary interest (such as patients’ welfare or the validity of research) may be influenced by a secondary interest (such as financial gain). Perceptions of conflict of interest are as important as actual conflicts of interest. 

Reviewers and editors will recuse themselves of any involvement in the editorial process if they have any conflicts of interest.  Authors will declare conflicts of interest, along with sources of support for the work. 

Research on Human and Animal Subjects 

Ehical principles on research with human subjects follows the Declaration of Helsinki of the World Medical Association. 

Patients have a right to privacy that should not be infringed without informed consent. Identifying information, including patients' names, initials, or hospital numbers, should not be published in written descriptions, photographs, and pedigrees unless the information is essential for scientific purposes and the patient (or parent or guardian) gives written informed consent for publication. Informed consent for this purpose requires that a patient who is identifiable be shown the manuscript to be published. Authors should identify Individuals who provide writing assistance and disclose the funding source for this assistance.

Identifying details should be omitted if they are not essential. Complete anonymity is difficult to achieve, however, and informed consent should be obtained if there is any doubt. For example, masking the eye region in photographs of patients is inadequate protection of anonymity. If identifying characteristics are altered to protect anonymity, such as in genetic pedigrees, authors should provide assurance that alterations do not distort scientific meaning and editors should so note.

When informed consent has been obtained, it should be indicated in the published article. 

When reporting experiments on animals, authors should indicate whether institutional and national standards for the care and use of laboratory animals were followed. Further guidance on animal research ethics is available from the International Association of Veterinary Editors’ Consensus Author Guidelines on Animal Ethics and Welfare 

Author Complaint

Any complaint against the editors or reviewers regarding fair publication decision-making shall be received by the Manging Editor by e-mail correspondence, and referred to a panel of three from the Editorial Board for deliberation.

Copyright Notice 

Christian Journal for Global Health applies the Creative Commons Attribution License to all articles that we publish. Under this license, authors retain ownership of copyright for their articles or they can transfer copyright to their institution, but authors allow anyone without permission to copy, distribute, transmit, and/or adapt articles, even for commercial purposes so long as the original authors and Christian Journal for Global Health are appropriately cited.

Privacy Statement

The names and email addresses entered in this journal site will be used exclusively for the stated purposes of this journal and will not be made available for any other purpose or to any other party.

Indexing

The journal is indexed in Directory of Open Access Journals, Hinari, Google Scholar, Crossreff and pending PubMed Central, PubMed, and Scopus.

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