BU Research Blog

29 August 2023

Publishing papers takes time

international, open access, Publishing, student research, Women's Academic Network, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

Today we were informed by Razi International Medical Journal that the paper ‘Management capacity in the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) Afghanistan: Political and socio-cultural issues’ [1] is finally out in print (i.e. online). I wrote a BU Research Blog (see copy of this here!) on May 1st to announce that this paper had accepted by the editors in late April. It has taken another four months at the editorial office to sort the publication details.

The lead author is Dr. Shaqaieq Ashrafi Dost, and this interesting paper is part of the dissemination of her Bournemouth University PhD research. The paper is in an Open Access journal and hence freely available online to read.

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health (CMWH)

References:

Ashrafi Dost, S., Arnold, R., van Teijlingen, E. (2023). Management capacity in theAfghan Ministry of Public Health pre-Taliban: A mixed-methods study of political and socio-cultural issues. Razi International Medical Journal, 3(1): 9-18. DOI:10.56101/rimj.v3i1.67

14 August 2023

UK Research Integrity Office – Free Webinar

Publishing, Research Integritiy sbell

UKRIO Logo Join UKRIO for their latest free webinar “Correcting the scholarly record, and dispelling myths around corrections” on Wednesday 20th September from 10:00 – 11:00 BST.

A core part of publication ethics is the correction of published research affected by errors or misconduct.

This webinar aims to explain both the process of fixing errors and misconceptions about corrections, focusing on journal articles, and to answer the questions:

Who decides what needs to be corrected?
What are the responsibilities of editors, journals, research institutions, and authors?
How are corrections done and what form do they take?
How do readers know when work has been corrected?
What are the barriers to correcting the scholarly literature – and, hopefully, the solutions to these problems?

Lead by expert speakers, this session will draw on their experience in handling corrections and developing editorial policies.

SPEAKERS

Lauren Flintoft, Research Integrity Officer, IOP Publishing
Gráinne McNamara, Research Integrity/Publication Ethics Manager, Karger Publishers

As BU subscribes to UKRIO services, UKRIO webinars are free and open to anyone who may be interested in research integrity and ethics, good research practice and improving research culture and misconduct.

To register – please click here (takes you to external website).

2 August 2023

The Journal of Asian Midwives’ 10th anniversary

international, open access, Publishing, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

This week the Journal of Asian Midwives published its latest issue. Celebrating a decade of publishing, this is the first issue of volume 10. The journal is Open Access and freely available online for anybody who wants to read it (click here!). In the editorial of this new issue the editors highlighted online events around the International Day of the Midwife, the ICM (International Confederation of Midwives) Triennial Congress in Bali, Indonesia in June, and the acceptance of the Journal of Asian Midwives by SCOPUS [1]. The editorial finishes by highlighting new additions to the journal, including the opportunity to submit short research proposals, or proposals for improvement in service or practice, blogs and from the next issue onwards, short view point articles.

Reference:

van Teijlingen, E., Jan, R., Mubeen, K., Musaddique, A. (2023) Editorial – summer 2023. Journal of Asian Midwives, 10(1): 1–3.

26 July 2023

Midwifery paper read 2,500 times

international, Publishing, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

Today ResearchGate alerted me that our paper ‘Women, Midwives, and a Medical Model of Maternity Care in Switzerland’ [1] has been read 2,500 times. This paper published in the International Journal of Childbirth focuses on the organisation of maternity health care in Switzerland. Switzerland has a costly health care system with high intervention rates within an obstetric-led maternity care model. Evidence has shown that midwifery care is associated with lower cost, higher satisfaction rates among women, and less intervention. However, in this model, midwives are both marginalized and underused.

The article focuses on the distribution of power and knowledge between midwives, women, and the medical profession. The varying power structures that shape the maternity care system in Switzerland are examined, using a case study approach that draws on Foucault’s concepts of the gaze, surveillance, disciplinary power, and the docile body. This article critically analyzes the model of maternity care received by women in Switzerland and how it negatively impacts on both women’s personal and midwives’ professional autonomy while simultaneously driving up costs.

A better understanding of the underlying power structures operating within the maternity care system may facilitate the implementation of more midwifery-led care currently being endorsed by the Swiss Midwifery Association and some government agencies. This could result in reduced cost and lower intervention rates with reduced associated morbidity.

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health (CMWH)

Reference:

Brailey, S., Luyben, A., Firth, L, van Teijlingen, E (2017) Women, midwives & medical model of maternity care in Switzerland, International Journal of Childbirth 7(3): 117-25.

25 July 2023

BU top in health-related research in Nepal

international, Publishing, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

A few days ago a group of researchers from the UK, Nepal and South Korea listed as the top five authors writing on migrant workers’ health-related research in Nepal. Their recent paper ‘Migrant workers’ health-related research in Nepal: A bibliometric study’ was published last week in the journal Dialogues in Health (Elsevier) with as lead author Dr. Sharada P. Wasti from the University of Greenwich [1]. The team conducted a systematic search of published literature on Nepalese migrant workers’ health was conducted in Scopus, Medline, CINAHL, Embase, PsycINFO and Web of Science, followed by a bibliometric analysis. The search of databases retrieved 520 records, and a total of 161 papers were included in the analysis. Bibliometric analyses were performed to create visualisation maps. The team found that most articles were published on infectious diseases, followed by health and lifestyle, sexual and reproductive health, access to health services, workplace safety, maternal health, and health systems and policy.

Their search found that 533 researchers originating from 24 countries contributed to the pool of literature. It also lists the top five authors in the field in Table 5. We were proud to find out that all five top author positions are affiliated with Bournemouth University (BU): three are current BU staff, Dr. Pratik Adhikari one is a BU PhD graduate, and Prof. Padam Simkhada from the University of Huddersfield, is BU Visiting Faculty.

References:

Wasti, S.P., Shrestha, A, Atteraya, M.S., GC, V,S. (2023) Migrant workers’ health-related research in Nepal: A bibliometric study, Dialogues in Health 3: 100147, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dialog.2023.100147.

25 July 2023

New BU migration and health publication

international, Publishing, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

Congratulations to Drs. Pramod Regmi and Nirmal Aryal in the Faculty of Health & Social Sciences who published their latest paper this week [1]. This peer-reviewed paper ‘Assessing the knowledge of, attitudes towards, and practices in, food safety among migrant workers in Klang Valley, Malaysia’ in the journal Travel Medicine & Infectious Disease assesses the current food safety KAP (knowledge, attitudes and behaviour) as well as strategies to promote food safety awareness, among migrant workers across occupational sectors in Malaysia.

The authors conducted a survey with 403 migrant workers using telephone interviews and online self-administered questionnaires. The respondents were Nepalese, Filipino and Indonesian migrant workers. The majority were male, working in the services industry, had completed high school, aged between 30 and 39 years and had worked in Malaysia for less than ten years. Knowledge was significantly correlated with attitudes and practices. Female respondents had lower knowledge and attitude scores while younger respondents had lower knowledge scores. Indonesian and Filipino respondents had lower knowledge and attitudes scores than Nepalese respondents. Understanding food safety information from social media was positively correlated with the respondents’ food safety knowledge and practices. The paper concludes there is: (i) a to target female, younger, Indonesian and Filipino migrant workers, and (ii) the potential of social media to improve public awareness of food safety and hygienic practices.

Well done!

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health (CMWH)

Reference:

Chaudhary MN, Lim V-C, Sahimin N, Faller EM, Regmi P, Aryal N, Azman AS (2023) Assessing the knowledge of, attitudes towards, and practices in, food safety among migrant workers in Klang Valley, Malaysia, Travel Medicine and Infectious Disease doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tmaid.2023.102620.

25 July 2023

UK Research Integrity Office (UKRIO) – Free Webinar

Publishing, Research Integritiy sbell

UKRIO Logo Join UKRIO for their latest free webinar “Correcting the scholarly record, and dispelling myths around corrections” on Wednesday 20th September from 10:00 – 11:00 BST.

A core part of publication ethics is the correction of published research affected by errors or misconduct.

This webinar aims to explain both the process of fixing errors and misconceptions about corrections, focusing on journal articles, and to answer the questions:

Who decides what needs to be corrected?
What are the responsibilities of editors, journals, research institutions, and authors?
How are corrections done and what form do they take?
How do readers know when work has been corrected?
What are the barriers to correcting the scholarly literature – and, hopefully, the solutions to these problems?

Lead by expert speakers, this session will draw on their experience in handling corrections and developing editorial policies.

SPEAKERS

Lauren Flintoft, Research Integrity Officer, IOP Publishing
Gráinne McNamara, Research Integrity/Publication Ethics Manager, Karger Publishers

As BU subscribes to UKRIO services, UKRIO webinars are free and open to anyone who may be interested in research integrity and ethics, good research practice and improving research culture and misconduct.

To register – please click here (takes you to external website).

23 July 2023

Sociology journal seeks second book review editor

open access, Publishing, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

The British Sociological Society’s (BSA) journal Sociological Research Online is seeking a new second book review editor. All Editors, including the book review editor, have to be BSA members throughout their term of office and previous engagement with the BSA is desirable. The term of office is three years with the possibility of an extension, starting mid-November 2023. The deadline for applications is 11th October 2013.

Sociological Research Online is published by the international social science publishing house SAGE. The editorial team has just been informed this week that the Impact Factor of the journal has increased to 1.6.

Interested candidates should submit a pro forma application of no more than 2 pages and a short CV. To receive a pro forma application, please contact Selina Hisir, BSA
Publications Coordinator, at email: sro.journal@britsoc.org.uk

As current book review editor I am very happy to talk to interested sociologists informally.

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health

Email: evteijlingen@bournemouth.ac.uk

16 July 2023

New ways of publishing: Qeios one more time!

innovation, international, open access, PG research, Publishing, Training, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

In May I wrote a BU Research Blog under the title ‘New ways of publishing?’ on the first time we published an academic paper in the post-review journal Qeios. The paper in question ‘The paper ‘Impact of Men’s Labour Migration on Non-migrating Spouses’ Health: A Systematic Review‘ [1] is part of Shraddha Manandhar’s Ph.D. study at the University of Huddersfield. Shraddha is supervised by the University of Huddersfield’s Prof. Philip Brown and Prof. Padam Simkhada and Bournemouth University’ Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen. Today’s blog is an update on that novel publishing journey.

The first point to make is that our paper received twenty-two reviews, not two or three, but 22 different people read and commented on this paper. Sure, some reviews were better than others, some were more insightful, others were more generic, some seem to miss out points, or perhaps skimming the surface a little, but still twenty-two reviews! Secondly, by the nature of post-publication review we have taken the reviews to heart and submitted the second improved version of the paper [2]. The new reference for the paper is very similar to the first one, apart from the new submission data and the indication in the https that we are now on the second version [2]. Thirdly, each of the 22 reviews has its own DOI, and hence can easily be quoted. In the second version of the paper we have cited several of the online reviews [e.g. 3-6]. Last, but not least, Qeois offers Open Access and publishing is free of charge.

The great unknown for us how the academic world is going to view post-publication way of peer-reviewing. We realize that we have been lucky in getting 22 reviews for this paper. As part of learning about Qeios I read a 2022 paper in one of my areas of interest and submitted my own review [7]; this review was only the fifth for the paper.

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health

References:

Manandhar, S., Simkhada, P., Brown, P., van Teijlingen, E. (2023) Impact of Men’s Labour Migration on Non-migrating Spouses’ Health: A Systematic Review, Qeios,
May 13, https://doi.org/10.32388/BX9WFC
Manandhar, S., Simkhada, P., Brown, P., van Teijlingen, E. (2023) Impact of Men’s Labour Migration on Non-migrating Spouses’ Health: A Systematic Review, Qeios, July 16, https://www.qeios.com/read/BX9WFC.2
Wu, H. (2023). Review of: “Impact of Men’s Labour Migration on Non-migrating Spouses’ Health: A Systematic Review”, Qeios. https://doi:10.32388/NVW8C3
Ghosh, A. (2023). Review of: “Impact of Men’s Labour Migration on Non-migrating Spouses’ Health: A Systematic Review”, Qeios. https://doi:10.32388/O1JP7C
Dong, W. (2023). Review of: “Impact of Men’s Labour Migration on Non-migrating Spouses’ Health: A Systematic Review”, Qeios. https://doi:10.32388/V05O6G
Bhattacharya, L. (2023). Review of: “Impact of Men’s Labour Migration on Non-migrating Spouses’ Health: A Systematic Review”, Qeios. https://doi:10.32388/SPFPQH
van Teijlingen, E. (2023). Review of: “Research & Evaluation Framework 2022/23”, Qeios. https://doi.org/10.32388/N8TI2P

28 June 2023

Fitness to Practise paper published

NHS, Publishing, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

Congratulations to Megan Jadzinski, Sara White, Sue Way and Dominique Mylod on the acceptance of their paper ‘How are Fitness to Practise processes applied in UK Higher Education Institutions? – A systematic review’ by the international journal Nurse Education in Practice. All authors are based in the Faculty of Health and Social Science, or were as Prof. Sue Way retired recently.

Well done,

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health

14 June 2023

Bournemouth University mentioned in Pakistan

international, open access, Publishing, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

Last week The Aga Khan University (AKU) in Pakistan put a news story on its website highlighting a first for Pakistan. The reason for celebrating was that the Journal of Asian Midwives, one of the only two research journals hosted by The Aga Khan University, has been accepted for inclusion in Scopus. Scopus, which is part of the publishing house Elsevier, is the world’s largest electronic database of peer-reviewed literature: scientific journals, books and conference proceedings. The Journal of Asian Midwives is an Open Access journal and publishing is free. One of its three co-editors is based at Bournemouth University.

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

3 June 2023

Using participatory asset mapping and PhotoVoice in Nepalese alcohol study

international, open access, Publishing, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

This week we received an email from the editorial office of Perspectives in Public Health with congratulations on the acceptance of your paper ‘Participatory asset mapping and photovoice interviews to scope cultural and community resources to reduce alcohol harm in Chitwan, Nepal’ [1]. The lead researcher on this public health alcohol research project in Nepal is Dr. Ranjita Dhital, Lecturer in Interdisciplinary Health Studies in the Arts and Sciences Department at UCL (University College London).

The World Health Organization (WHO) suggests that in low and middle-income countries (LMICs) like Nepal, morbidity and mortality risks are greater per litre of pure alcohol consumed than in higher-income countries. This is largely due to poverty, poor nutrition, adverse living conditions, and poor access to care. These inequities are made worse by the dearth of understanding of the most appropriate and cost-effective approaches to reduce alcohol-related harm in LMICs. Our study aims to stimulate new thinking on how cultural and community assets could be integrated to co-designed alcohol interventions for future evaluation in LMICs, through scoping the breadth of cultural and community assets in relation to alcohol use and to exploring attitudes towards alcohol and people experiences with it.

The journal Perspectives in Public Health is published by SAGE and the paper will be Open Access when it appears online. My previous alcohol studies have focused on students [2], Nepalese migrants living in the UK [3], and Public Health measures to reduced alcohol misuse in Scotland [4].

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health

Reference:

Dhital, R., Yoeli, H., Adhikari, A., Luitel, N.P., Nadkarni, A., van Teijlingen, E., Sin, J. (2023) Participatory asset mapping and photovoice interviews to scope cultural and community resources to reduce alcohol harm in Chitwan, Nepal, Perspectives in Public Health (accepted). DOI: 10.1177/17579139231180744).
Engs, R.C, van Teijlingen E (1997) Correlates of alcohol, tobacco & marijuana use among Scottish post-secondary helping profession students, Journal of Alcohol Studies, 58:435-44.
van Teijlingen E, Simkhada, P., Adhikary, P. (2009) Alcohol use among the Nepalese in the UK BMJ Rapid Response: bmj.com/cgi/eletters/339/oct20_1/b4028#223451
Ludbrook A, Godfrey C, Wyness L, Parrott S, Haw S, Napper M, van Teijlingen E. (2002) Effective & Cost-Effective Measures to Reduce Alcohol Misuse in Scotland: Lit Review, ISBN: 0755932803 www.alcoholinformation.isdscotland.org/alcohol_misuse/files/MeasureReduce_Full.pdf

25 May 2023

Erasmus+ visitors from Nepal teaching at BU

international, Knowledge Exchange, Publishing, Research Integritiy, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

This week we had the luxury of four exchange visitors from Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences (MMIHS) in Nepal who are here on the Erasmus+ scheme. Erasmus+ funds are a great way to build academic networks and gain experience of teaching and learning elsewhere. Global staff mobility, including training and teaching, leads to professional development and networking and brings great value to BU and our students, whilst also offering invaluable international experience for BU staff and postgraduate students in Nepal.

Today Prof. Sujan Marahatta, Dr. Sujata Sapkota and Dr. Sujan Gautam offered a workshop under the title ‘Introducing federalization in Nepal: What are the effects on its health system?’ All three academics are part of the Nepal Federal Health System Project, our major collaborative project examining the consequences for the health system of Nepal’s move to a federal government structure in 2015. This is a joint project (2020-2024) led by the University of Sheffield and it is an collaboration with Bournemouth University, the University of Huddersfield, MMIHS and PHASE Nepal. This longitudinal interdisciplinary study is funded by the UK Health Systems Research Initiative [Grant ref. MR/T023554/1]. After highlighting the difference between ‘federalisation’ and ‘decentralisation’, the Nepalese academics briefly explained the political changes in the Nepal over the past decade or so. Followed by an outline of the project’s research methods and the key preliminary findings. The presenters focused on the data generated through a participatory method called River of Life, and from the policy analysis based on the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Health System Building blocks. This project has resulted in three publications to date [1-3].

Our visitors got involved in a range of teaching activities, for example, Prof. Beenu Bista, Professor of Nursing at MMIHS, taught various groups of BU nursing students earlier this week, whilst Dr. Sujata Sapkota helped supervise and advise one of BU’s M.Sc. Public Health students for her dissertation project.

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health (CMWH)

References:

Sapkota, S., Panday, S., Wasti, S.P., Lee, A., Balen, J., et al. (2022) Health System Strengthening: The Role of Public Health in Federal Nepal, Journal of Nepal Public Health Association 7 (1): 36-42.
Rushton, S., Pandey, S., van Teijlingen, E., Subedi, M., Balen, J., et al. (2021) An Investigation into the Impact of Decentralization on the Health System of Nepal. Journal of Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences, 7(1): 3–14. https://doi.org/10.3126/jmmihs.v7i1.43146
Adhikary, P., Balen, J., Gautam, S., Ghimire S., Karki J.K., et al. (2020) The COVID-19 pandemic in Nepal: Emerging evidence on the effectiveness of action by, and cooperation between, different levels of government in a federal system. Journal of Karnali Academy of Health Sciences 3(3)

21 May 2023

Disability in Nepal

international, Publishing, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

Today there was an interesting article in The Himalayan Times about Hari Budha Magar who became the world’s first double above-the-knee amputee to climb Mount Everest. He lost both his legs as a British Gurkha soldier, in the words of the newspaper put it “while fighting for the UK alongside Prince Harry in April 2010.” Budha Magar wants to inspire people with disabilities, and he highlights that disabilities are not sins of a previous life that people with disabilities are a burden.”

A decade ago we conducted research into attitudes towards disability in rural Nepal and found very similar notions [1]. At the time we wrote most participants only considered physical conditions that limit function of an individual and are visible to naked eyes, such as missing a leg or arm, to be disability. Attitudes towards people with disability were generally positive, for example most women believed that disabled people should have equal rights and should be allowed to sit on committees or get married. Most respondents thought that disability could result from: (i) accidents; (ii) medical conditions; or (iii) genetic inheritance. Fewer women thought that disability was caused by fate or bad spirits.

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health (CMWH)

References:

Simkhada, P. P., Shyangdan, D., Van Teijlingen, E. R., Kadel, S., Stephen, J., & Gurung, T. (2013). Women’s knowledge of and attitude towards disability in rural Nepal. Disability and Rehabilitation, 35(7), 606-613. https://doi.org/10.3109/09638288.2012.702847

17 May 2023

Neural Networks 2022 Best Paper Award

Publishing hpandey

2022 Best Paper Award

Dr Hari Mohan Pandey is a recipient of the 2022 Best Paper Award (visit: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/neural-networks/awards/announcement-of-the-neural-networks-2022-best-paper-award):

“Cross-modality paired-images generation and augmentation for RGB-infrared person re-identification”

This paper is published in Neural Networks, volume 128, pp. 294-304, August 2020. The paper can be accessed at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neunet.2020.05.008

The Neural Networks Best Paper Award recognizes a single outstanding paper published in Neural Networks annually.

14 May 2023

New ways of publishing?

international, open access, PG research, Publishing, student research, Women's Academic Network, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

Last we took a new step into the academic publishing by submitting a paper to Qeios. This Open Access journal publishes papers for free, more or less immediately and after the paper has appeared online peer-reviewers are being invited. The paper ‘Impact of Men’s Labour Migration on Non-migrating Spouses’ Health: A Systematic Review‘ [1] is part of Shraddha Manandhar’s Ph.D. study at the University of Huddersfield. Her supervisors are Huddersfield’s Prof. Philip Brown and Prof. Padam Simkhada and Bournemouth University’ Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen. This journal uses AI to find and invite reviewers, and these reviews will the be are published alongside our article. Should we advised by reviewers to make changes, edits or improvements the next version of the paper will be published online alongside the original submission and the reviews.

We have had some previous experience with the process of post-publication review, in 2017 BU’s Dr. Sarah Collard and Prof. van Teijlingen wrote a referee report for F1000Research after it published a methods paper on online focus groups [2]. More recently we published a COVID-19 paper in a so-called pre-print journal SSRN [3], but this was later in published in a traditional peer-reviewed journal called Scientific Reports [4], part of the Nature publishing family.

References

Manandhar, S., Simkhada, P., Brown, P., van Teijlingen, E. (2023) Impact of Men’s Labour Migration on Non-migrating Spouses’ Health: A Systematic Review, Qeios,
May 13, https://doi.org/10.32388/BX9WFC
Collard, S., van Teijlingen, E. (2017) Referee Report For: Insights for conducting real-time focus groups online using a web conferencing service [version 2; referees: 2 approved]. F1000Research 6:122 (doi: 10.5256/f1000research.11236.r21467) https://f1000research.com/articles/6-122/v1#referee-response-21467
Parajuli, R.R., Mishra, B., Banstola, A., Ghimire, B.R., Poudel, S., Sharma, K., Dixit, S.M., Shah, S., Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen, E., (2020) Multidisciplinary Approach to COVID-19 Risk Communication: A Framework and Tool for Individual and Regional Risk Assessment. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3634190 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3634190
Parajuli, R.R., Mishra, B., Banstola, A. et al. Multidisciplinary approach to COVID-19 risk communication: a framework and tool for individual and regional risk assessment. Sci Rep 10, 21650 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-78779-0

9 May 2023

The Journal of Asian Midwives accepted for inclusion by Scopus

international, Knowledge Exchange, open access, Publishing, Women's Academic Network, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

Today one of my co-editors of the Journal of Asian Midwives emailed me to announce that our journal has been accepted for inclusion by Scopus.

Scopus, which is owned by the publishing house Elsevier, is the world’s largest electronic database of peer-reviewed literature. The Scopus assessors of our application made some very nice comments about the Journal of Asian Midwives, for example that it:

“consistently includes articles that are academically sound and relevant to an international academic or professional audience in the field. The journal has scholarly relevance as evidenced by citations in other journals currently covered by Scopus… The journal has clear aims and scope/journal policies that are consistent with the journal’s content. Although the scope of this journal is narrow, it addresses the need of an important niche audience.”

We are very proud of this achievement and we, as editors (Prof. Rafat Jan, Ms. Kiran Mubeen, Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen, with editorial assistant Ms. Abeer Musaddique), thank all our supporters, especially the library staff at The Aga Khan University in Pakistan, our reviewers, our authors and of course, you, our readers! I personally like to thank our former CMMPH (Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health) PhD student Dr. Sheetal Sharma for suggesting many years ago that I might like to help this, at the time, new journal. It is a proper well-run peer-reviewed journal, and I know that from personal experience, as a few years ago one of the papers on which I am a co-author was rejected after peer review by ‘my’ journal!

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH (Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health)

Co-editor Journal of Asian Midwives

6 May 2023

New COVID-19 paper on Nepal

BRIAN, international, open access, Publishing, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

Yesterday Plos ONE published our latest study on the health system in Nepal under the title ‘Barriers in accessing family planning services in Nepal during the COVID-19 pandemic: A qualitative study‘ [1]. This qualitative study, in an Open Access journal, explores what sorts of barriers are faced by women needing family planning services in Nepal during the pandemic. It was conducted in five districts of Nepal. Telephonic in-depth interviews were conducted with 18 women of reproductive age (18–49 years) who were the regular clients of family planning services. Data were coded deductively using the preexisting themes based on a socio-ecological model (e.g., individual, family, community, and health-facility levels).

The paper reports that individual level barriers included low self-confidence, inadequate knowledge on COVID-19, myths and misconception related to COVID-19, limited access to family planning services, low priority to sexual and reproductive health services, low autonomy in family and limited financial ability. Family level barriers comprised partner’s support, social stigma, increased time at home with husbands or parents, not accepting family planning services as essential health services, financial hardship due to loss of jobs, and communication with in-laws. Movement restrictions and transportation hindering access, unsecured feeling, violation of privacy, and obstacles from security personnel were the community level barriers and unavailability of preferred choice of contraception, increased waiting time, limited outreach services by community health workers, limited physical infrastructures, the behavior of health workers, stock out of commodities, and absence of health workers were health facility level barriers.

The authors conclude that policymakers and programme managers should consider strategies to ensure continued availability of the full method mix during emergency, particularly since disruptions may go unnoticed and strengthen the provision of services through alternative service delivery channels to ensure sustained uptake of such services in this sort of pandemic.

This is the latest addition to the pool of academic papers published by Bournemouth University academics on the effects of COVID-19 on health care in Nepal or issues related to Nepal [2-11].

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH (Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health)

References:

Sigdel A, Bista A, Sapkota H, van Teijlingen E (2023) Barriers in accessing family planning services in Nepal during the COVID-19 pandemic: A qualitative study. PLoS ONE 18(5): e0285248. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0285248
Mahato P., Adhikari B., Marahatta S.B., Bhusal S., Kunwar K., Yadav R.K., Baral, S., Adhikari, A., van Teijlingen, E. (2023) Perceptions around COVID-19 and vaccine hesitancy: A qualitative study in Kaski district, Western Nepal. PLOS Global Public Health 3(2): e0000564.
Regmi, P., Dhakal Adhikari, S., Aryal, N., Wasti, S.P., van Teijlingen, E. (2022) Fear, Stigma and Othering: The Impact of COVID-19 Rumours on Returnee Migrants and Muslim Populations of Nepal, International Journal of Environmental Research & Public Health 19(15), 8986.
Simkhada, P., Tamang, P., Timilsina, L., Simkhada, B., Bissell, P., van Teijlingen, E., Sah, S.K., Wasti, S.P. (2022) Factors Influencing COVID-19 Vaccine Uptake among Nepali in the UK: A Qualitative Study, Vaccine 10(5): 780. https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines10050780
Khanal, S.P., van Teijlingen, E., Sharma, M.K., Acharya, J., Sharma, C. (2021) Perceived threats towards COVID-19 pandemic among Nepali migrant workers returned from India, Journal of Health Promotion 9(1):87-99.
Wasti, SP., Simkhada, P., Magar, S.A., van Teijlingen, E. (2021) Nepalese Health System Response to Fight Against COVID-19 Pandemic, Europasian Journal of Medical Sciences 3(1): 98-104.
Simkhada, P., Mahato, P., Tamang, P., van Teijlingen, E., Shahi, P. (2020) The Role of Health Promotion during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Journal of Health Promotion, 8:1-4. https://doi.org/10.3126/jhp.v8i0.32964
Parajuli, R.R., Mishra, B., Banstola, A., Ghimire, B.R., Poudel, S., Sharma, K., Dixit, S.M., Shah, S., Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen, E. (2020) Multidisciplinary Approach to COVID-19 Risk Communication: A Framework and Tool for Individual and Regional Risk Assessment. Scientific Reports 10: 21650
Adhikary, P., Balen, J., Gautam, S., Ghimire, S., Karki, J., Lee, A.C.K., Marahatta, S.B., Panday, S., Pohl, G., Rushton, S., Sapkota, S., Simkhada, P.P., Subedi, M., van Teijlingen, E. for the Nepal Federal Health System team (2020) The COVID-19 pandemic in Nepal: Emerging evidence on the effectiveness of action by, and cooperation between, different levels of government in a federal system, Journal of Karnali Academy of Health Sciences 3 (3): 1-11.
Mahato, P., Tamang, P., Shahi, P., Aryal, N., Regmi, P., van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, P. (2020) Effects of COVID-19 during lockdown in Nepal, Europasian Journal of Medical Sciences 2(2):1-5.
Tamang, P., Mahato, P., Shahi, P., Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen, E., Amgain, K. (2020) COVID-19 Quarantine: A Key Part of Prevention in Nepal. Journal of Karnali Academy of Health Sciences 3(1):1-14.

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