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Reproductive health research challenges

Peer Review reports

Scope of the journal

Welcome to the journal 'Reproductive Health'. The Journal adopts the broad definition of reproductive health as endorsed by the International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo in 1994 [1]. Reproductive health is defined as a state of physical, mental, and social well-being in all matters relating to the reproductive system at all stages of life. Good reproductive health implies that people are able to have a satisfying and safe sex life and that they have the capability to reproduce and the freedom to decide if, when, and how often to do so. Men and women should be informed about and have access to safe, effective, affordable, and acceptable methods of family planning of their choice, and the right to appropriate health-care services that enable women to safely go through pregnancy and childbirth.

Reproductive health includes a much wider area than only physical wellbeing. Topics such as sexual- and gender-related, social and ethical issues are discussed and researched more than before. Recently, a series of papers pointed out the inequalities in access to reproductive health services as a major contributor to maternal morbidity and mortality [2]. There is a need for more research into inequities in the access and utilization of reproductive health services and information.

The Journal invites submissions from all areas of reproductive health, including clinical practices, social and gender issues, sexual health, country and population specific issues, assessment of access to and utilization of services, information dissemination, education and training.

The challenge of the field is to evaluate current promising interventions rigorously and address emerging issues such as synthesizing ever-increasing research findings and develop innovative dissemination and communication strategies.

Many submitted articles rejected by print journals are not only due to 'non-valuable' content, but also due to lack of space – which is easily understandable considering the amount of manuscripts submitted. Our aim is to provide a platform, which offers easy and Open Access for users and helps authors to share their knowledge with a wider audience, whilst sustaining a rapid peer review process resulting in high quality publications. We encourage researchers in the field to submit study reports that are based on sound research no matter what the findings may be. We aim to contribute towards reducing the inequity towards publications from low and middle-income countries.

Reproductive Health specifically invites colleagues from these countries to work with us and submit their research findings for publication, sharing with others in the field their results by using the Open Access model. Our audience is global and we intend to share research results in reproductive health from all parts of the world.

Peer review process

The editorial board is international and includes members experienced in various areas of reproductive health and editorial peer review.

Each manuscript submitted will be assigned to two peer reviewers, identified by the editorial board. The peer reviewers are asked to assess the manuscript for the scientific content, the actuality and relevance of the topic as well as for its presentation and clarity of writing. In case of acceptance, reviewers will indicate the revisions necessary to be made by the authors to allow publication in the journal. In case of discrepancy between the reviewers a third reviewer will be brought in and the ultimate decision will be made by the editorial board. There will be an open peer review process. We aim to keep the peer review process as quick and efficient as possible, enabling publication with minimum delay.

Reproductive Health uses the criteria of valid and rigorous research rather than 'results' when accepting submissions for publication.

Open Access

The Open Access policy means that all articles become freely and universally accessible online; publications can be read by anyone at no cost [3]. A copy of the full text of each Open Access article is archived separately from the journal. 'Reproductive Health' articles are archived in in PubMed Central [4], the US National Library of Medicine's full-text repository of life science literature, and also in repositories at the University of Potsdam [5] in Germany, at INIST [6] in France and in e-Depot [7], the National Library of the Netherlands' digital archive of all electronic publications.

Once accepted, manuscripts become accessible immediately on the Journal and are soon after listed in PubMed. The BioMed Central Open Access policy assures authors that their work will be available to the widest possible audience. In addition, authors are free to publish and redistribute their work because they keep the copyright.

We look forward to your submissions to our new journal!

Regina Kulier, Aldo Campana

References

  1. International Conference on Population and Development. (Last visited 22 January 2004), [http://www.unfpa.org/icpd/icpd.htm]

  2. Graham PW, Fitzmaurice AE, Bell PJ, Cairns JA: The familial technique for linking maternal death with poverty. Lancet. 363 (9402): 23-7. 10.1016/S0140-6736(03)15165-3. 2004 Jan 3

  3. BioMed Central Open Access Charter. [http://www.biomedcentral.com/info/about/charter]

  4. PubMed Central. [http://www.pubmedcentral.org]

  5. Potsdam. [http://www.uni-potsdam.de/over/homegd.htm]

  6. INIST. [http://www.inist.fr/index_en.php]

  7. e-Depot. [http://www.kb.nl/]

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Correspondence to Regina Kulier.

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Kulier, R., Campana, A. Reproductive health research challenges. Reprod Health 1, 2 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1186/1742-4755-1-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/1742-4755-1-2