Rejected by Global Health Journals, African Researchers Create their own Journal

As an aspiring global health leader from the Global South, seeking to make a difference, I often ponder whether change is actually possible. What would true change look like, and what should my role be in bringing about that change? Recently, I’ve been thinking a lot about the saying “If we’re not invited to the table, maybe we should build our own table”. This line kept running through my mind as I listened to the episode of Global Health Unfiltered Podcast in which Dr. Raoul Kamadjeu discusses the creation of the Pan-African Medical Journal (PAMJ).

As a young public health researcher Dr. Kamadjeu encountered many challenges in getting his research articles published in so-called global health journals. Whenever he submitted a research manuscript to global health journals, he often received the following response: "Your article is not suitable for an international audience." This intrigued me. What exactly is an international audience? How international is it if it excludes certain people? Who decides what kind of research is suitable or not? Isn’t research that aims to address public health problems valuable regardless of where it comes from or who conducts it? I was exasperated, yet unsurprised by what I had just heard because Dr. Kamadjeu’s experience is just one of plenty outlining the challenges Global South researchers and practitioners go through. 

Click the image to listen to Dr. Raoul Kamadjeu's podcast episode

After many frustrating rejections from these global health journals, Dr. Kamadjeu saw no other alternative than to create an open-access, online biomedical journal. He joined forces with his colleague, Dr. Landry Tsague, to found the PAMJ in 2008. Since there were few African journals, an opportunity arose to, as he aptly said, “put Africa on the open access map”.  

Since its inception in 2008, PAMJ has grown to become a major publishing house operated by 18 full-time staff members in offices in Cameroon and Kenya. The journal currently receives manuscripts from over 90 countries across the globe and publishes articles in both French and English. PAMJ receives close to 3,000 submissions and publishes over 800 articles a year. The journal has published over 9,600 articles. It claims a readership of close to 25,000 a month. 

In setting up the PAMJ, Dr. Kamadjeu and his colleagues were in fact building a global health research table in response to being perpetually excluded from existing platforms. What they have achieved with PAMJ takes the saying and expands it to “let’s also create space for others at the table”. Building your own table can be very challenging - which explains why few do it. 

Dr. Kamadjeu stressed the importance of continued learning when it comes to successfully running a journal. In his words, “Anyone looking to create a journal has to be in the business of learning”. To date, there are few institutions on the African continent teaching people how to become journal editors. Without formal training, Dr. Kamadjeu and his team observed other journals and engaged with editors while attending conferences. They now use their knowledge to train their full-time employees and partner with universities to build scientific writing capacity – further expanding “let’s create space for others” to “let’s facilitate knowledge sharing”. 

I finished the episode having a greater appreciation for African researchers and journal editors, feeling inspired, challenged, and slightly critical of global health publication dialogue. Naturally, after further reflection on all Dr. Kamadjeu discussed, I had questions for myself (and you, the reader). Wanting to build your own table is well and good, but what does it actually take? What will it take to maintain the table? Is it necessary? Are there existing tables you can use? Can you partner with others to build the table together? Who could your dream table potentially exclude?

The doer in me would rather ignore the questions and skip to the building – because that’s the most important part, right? The learner in me, however, appreciates the questions because of the conversations they may facilitate. After all, mindfulness is a fundamental requirement for a sustainable table.