BU Research Blog

June 30, 2024

Impact Factor for Nepal Journal of Epidemiology

Featured academics, Global engagement, international, research methods, Uncategorized, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

The Nepal Journal of Epidemiology achieved its first proper Web of Science impact factor this month. The Nepal Journal of Epidemiology is a international journal with strong links to Bournemouth University. It is a Open Access journal that covers all aspects of epidemiology and encourages communication among those engaged in the research, teaching, and application of epidemiology of both communicable and non-communicable disease, including research into health services, public health and medical care. One of the two Editors-in-Chief is Dr. Brijesh Sathian, FHSS Visiting Faculty and the journal’s Editorial Board Members include Prof. Padam Simkhada, FHSS Visiting Faculty as well as Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen in the Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health.

May 22, 2024

Questioning AI

BU research, Centre for Excellence in Learning, Featured academics, Global engagement, international, open access, Publishing, research integrity, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

Today the Open Access journal Health Prospect published our paper ‘ChatGPT: Challenges to editors and examiners’ [1]. The past year saw an exponential growth in the use of machine learning using AI (artificial intelligence) and particularly Generative AI (GenAI) such as ChatGPT. The latter has seen a spectacular rise in the public debate and in the mass media. Those not involved in the development of AI were amazed by the capabilities of ChatGPT to produce text equal to the average human produced texts. There is no doubt that the adoption of AI is advancing rapidly.

To test the ability of ChatGPT in its free version, we posed simple questions about migrant workers in Nepal, a topic we have published about widely. After reading the short essay produced by ChatGPT on that question, we repeated the question whilst asking for references to be included. We were surprised by the quality of this very general piece of work. In many UK universities, including at Bournemouth University, there is a debate about students’ use of ChatGPT. We all recognise how difficult it is to distinguish between work produced by the average student and that produced by AI. There is a similar problem for editors and reviewers of academic journals. It really boils down to the question: ‘How can you be certain the submitted manuscript came from a human source?’ However, we feel the progress of AI is not all doom and gloom. The paper also outlines some of the key problems around AI and academic publishing, but also opportunities arising from the use of AI in this area.

The authors of this paper are based at Bournemouth University, the University of Strathclyde, and the University of Huddersfield.

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Reference:

Simkhada, B., van Teijlingen, A., Simkhada, P., & van Teijlingen, E. R. (2024). ChatGPT: Challenges to editors and examiners. Health Prospect, 23(1), 21–24. https://doi.org/10.3126/hprospect.v23i1.60819

February 1, 2024

New Nepalese migrant health paper published

BU research, Featured academics, Global engagement, international, open access, Publishing, Research news, Uncategorized, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

New paper on migrant workers from Nepal was published this week in KMC Journal. The paper ‘Risk Perception and Protective Health Measure Regarding COVID-19 among Nepali Labour Migrants’ Returnee from India’ has Shanti Khanal as lead author [1]. The journal is Open Access, hence freely available online across the globe. The paper examines the association between risk perception and protective behaviour regarding COVID-19 in returnee migrant workers. A total of 384 returnee migrants, based in a quarantine centre on return from India, participated in the study. Using the health belief model (HBM) as a theoretical framework, a structured interview questionnaire was designed and administered. A further three health workers were interviewed face-to-face.

The study showed that the perceived risk of COVID-19 among participants was medium to low. Participants perceived few barriers and had low self-efficacy levels compared to other constructs. This study further showed that participants were more likely to follow a range of protective health behaviours, but not found all. The study revealed a significant association between all risk perception constructs and protective behaviours (p=< 0.05). This study accordingly highlighted a significant relationship between the respondents’ risk perception level and protective health behaviours. The study envisaged that public awareness of risk to the people who returned from India is essential to increase risk perception during the outbreak.

The study works towards fulfilling SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals), especially ‘Good health and well-being’ (SDG 3) and Decent work and economic growth (SDG 8).

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health (CMWH)

Reference:

Khanal, S.P., van Teijlingen, E., Sharma, M., Acharya, J., Sharma, C., Kharel, S., Gaulee, U., Bhattarai, K., Pasa, R.B., Bohora, P. (2024) Risk Perception and Protective Health Measure Regarding COVID-19 among Nepali Labour Migrants’ Returnee from India. KMC Journal, 6(1): 313–330. https://doi.org/10.3126/kmcj.v6i1.62364

January 24, 2024

New paper by FHSS PhD student Abier Hamidi

BU research, international, PG research, Research communication, Research news, Uncategorized Edwin van Teijlingen

This morning the journal Discover Social Science & Health informed us that Abier Hamidi’s latest paper ‘Islamic Perspectives on HIV: A Scoping Review’ has been accepted for publication [1]. Discover Social Science & Health is an Open Access journal publishing research across the full range of disciplines at the intersection of health, social and biomedical sciences. This latest review is part of Abier’s PhD research project and it follows several earlier related publications [2-7].

Abier is supervised by Dr. Pramod Regmi, Principal Academic-International Health and the Global Engagement Lead in the Department of Nursing Sciences, and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen in the Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health (CMWH).

Congratulations!

References:

Hamidi, A., Regmi, P., van Teijlingen, E. (2024) Islamic Perspectives on HIV: A Scoping Review, Discover Social Science & Health 4:6 https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s44155-024-00063-7.pdf
Hamidi, A. (2023) Social media now trumps traditional family networks in Libya – my Facebook survey reached 446,000 women, The Conversation published: April 24.
Hamidi, A., Regmi, P., van Teijlingen, E. (2023) Facilitators and barriers to condom use in Middle East and North Africa: a systematic review, Journal of Public Health, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10389-023-01923-3
Hamidi, A. (2023) Book Review: Fatma Müge Göçek and Gamze Evcimen, The I.B. Tauris Handbook of Sociology and The Middle East, Sociologial Research Online 28(4)
Hamidi A. (2022) HIV prevention – Challenges in reaching Libyan women: A narrative review. Women’s Health. 18: doi:10.1177/17455057221080832
Hamidi, A., van Teijlingen, E., Regmi, P. (2021) Facilitators and barriers to condom use in Middle East and North Africa: a systematic review. PROSPERO CRD42021297160
Hamidi, A., Regmi, P., van Teijlingen, E. (2021) HIV epidemic in Libya: Identifying gaps, Journal of the International Association of Providers of AIDS Care, 20 :1-5 https://doi.org/10.1177/23259582211053964 .

January 6, 2024

New migration paper related to Nepal

Featured academics, Global engagement, international, open access, PG research, Publishing, Research news, student research, Uncategorized, Women's Academic Network, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

On the last day of 2023 the Journal of Health Promotion published the paper ‘Sexual Harassment Among Nepali Non-Migrating Female Partners of International Labor Migrant Men’ [1]. This paper, in an Open Access journal, addresses one of the consequences of male labour migrants leaving their family members behind in Nepal. While non-migrating spouses often receive financial support in the form of remittances, their husbands’ migration also creates numerous social and personal problems. This qualitative study explored non-migrating spouses’ experience of sexual harassment/abuse and its impact on their mental health. Fourteen in-depth interviews were conducted and women reported experiencing harassment by men they knew, including their teachers and colleagues, who knew their husbands were abroad. But none of the women reported taking any action against their perpetrators, indicating a lack of power in this study population in still predominantly patriarchal society.

The lead author of the paper is Assistant Prof. Kalpana Gyawali from Tribhuvan University, Nepal’s largest and oldest university paper. Her co-authors are: Padam Simkhada, Visiting Professor in BU’s Faculty of Health & Social Sciences as well as Professor in Global Health at the University of Huddersfield, Edwin van Teijlingen in Bournemouth University’s Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health, Ms. Shraddha Manandhar, PhD. student at the University of Huddersfield, and Mr. Ram Chandra Silwal the Country Director of Green Tara Nepal, the charity we have been working with for nearly twenty years.

References:

Gyawali, K., Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen, E.R., Manandhar, S., Silwal, R.C. (2023). Sexual Harassment Among Nepali Non-Migrating Female Partners of International Labor Migrant Men. Journal of Health Promotion, 11(1): 22–31. https://www.nepjol.info/index.php/jhp/article/view/61198

January 1, 2024

The last BU blog of 2023

BU research, Featured academics, international, open access, Publishing, research methods, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

First of all: Happy New Year!

One of the first message I received this morning was that our editorial ‘Addressing the inequalities in global genetic studies for the advancement of Genetic Epidemiology’ [1] had been published yesterday. If I had know this in time it would have been the proper last Bournemouth University Research Blog of 2023 published yesterday. Interestingly, we only submitted the draft editorial on Christmas Day, got it back for revisions on Boxing Day and resubmitted it and had it accepted on December 28th. It dis, of course, help that both editors-in-chief of the Nepal Journal of Epidemiology are co-authors on this editorial!

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health (CMWH)

Reference:

Sathian, B., van Teijlingen, E., Roy., B., Kabir, R., Banerjee, I., Simkhada, P., Al Hamad, H. (2023) Addressing the
inequalities in global genetic studies for the advancement of Genetic Epidemiology. Nepal Journal of Epidemiology, 13(4):1292-1293.
DOI: 10.3126/nje.v13i4.61271

December 22, 2023

New Nepal paper published

BU research, Featured academics, Global engagement, international, policy, Publishing, Research news, Uncategorized, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

BMJ Global Health published our latest paper today under the title ‘The impact of decentralisation on health systems: a systematic review of reviews‘ [1]. This so-called review of reviews is part of a larger study funded by the UK Health Systems Research Initiative [Grant ref. MR/T023554/1]. in this larger Nepal Federal Health System Project we study the consequences for the health system of Nepal’s move from a centralised political system to a more federal government structure. This joint project is led by the University of Sheffield in collaboration with Bournemouth University, the University of Huddersfield, and two collaborating institutions in Nepal, namely Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences (MMIHS) and PHASE Nepal. We have managed to publish four papers from this project prior to today’s one. [2-5]

This latest paper, is Open Access and it includes nine reviews, each addressing somewhat different questions, contexts and issues. More negative than positive impacts of decentralisation on health system building blocks were identified. Although inconclusive, evidence suggested that the impacts on leadership and governance and financing components in particular shape the impact on the overall health system. Assessment of how the impact on building blocks translates to the broader impact on health systems is challenged by the dynamic complexities related to contexts, process and the health system itself. This review highlights some of the common potential issues to consider in advance.

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMWH (Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health)

References:

Sapkota, S., Dhakal, A., Rushton S., et al. (2023) The impact of decentralisation on health systems: a systematic review of reviews. BMJ Global Health 8:e013317. doi:10.1136/bmjgh-2023-013317.
Wasti, S.P., van Teijlingen, E., Rushton, S., et al. (2023) Overcoming the Challenges Facing Nepal’s Health System During Federalisation: An Analysis of Health System Building Blocks, Health Research Policy & Systems 21(117) https://doi.org/10.1186/s12961-023-01033-2
Sapkota, S., Panday, S., Wasti, S.P., et al. (2022) Health System Strengthening: The Role of Public Health in Federal Nepal, Journal of the Nepal Public Health Association 7(1):36-42.
Adhikary, P., Balen, J., Gautam, S., 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): 1-11.
Rushton, S., Pandey, S., van Teijlingen, E., 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

September 1, 2023

New paper on academic-industry research partnerships

BU research, Featured academics, Global engagement, Industry collaboration, international, Knowledge Transfer Partnership, open access, Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology, Uncategorized, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

Yesterday the Nepal Journal of Epidemiology published our editorial on ‘Strengthening Healthcare through Academic and Industry Partnership Research’ [1]. The editors put the editorial on the cover of the latest issue of the journal. Academic and Industry Partnership Research can drive medical innovation, strengthen patient-centred research, and close the gap between theoretical understanding and real-world implementations. The UK’s dedication to developing long-term alliances based on mutual respect and open dialogue can facilitate an environment where ground-breaking research can flourish and be transformed into affordable health and social care solutions.

Half of the authors are associated with Bournemouth University, two are Visiting Faculty (Prof. Dr. Padam Simkhada and Dr. Brijesh Sathian) and the third one is Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen in the Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health (CMWH). The Nepal Journal of Epidemiology is an Open Access journal and therefore the paper is freely available to read to anyone across the globe.

References:

Sathian, B., van Teijlingen, E. ., Simkhada, P., Banerjee, I., Manikyam, H. K., & Kabir, R. (2023). Strengthening Healthcare through Academic and Industry Partnership Research. Nepal Journal of Epidemiology, 13(2), 1264–1267. https://doi.org/10.3126/nje.v13i2.58243

August 29, 2023

Publishing papers takes time

Global engagement, international, open access, Postgraduate Research, Publishing, student research, Uncategorized, 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

August 8, 2023

Two papers based on ERASMUS+ exchange

EU, Featured academics, Global engagement, international, open access, PG research, Research Centres, Research communication, Uncategorized, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

In the latest issue of the Journal of Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences appeared two articles focusing on the ERASMUS+ programme. This new issue of the journal was published earlier this month, it is an Open Access journal hence its articles can be read free of charged. Unfortunately, due the UK leaving the European Union (EU), ERASMUS+ has just come to an end this summer for universities in the UK.

The first article is an editorial that outlines the benefits of the staff and student exchange between Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences (MMIHS) in Nepal and Bournemouth University [1]. The paper concludes that the world is rapidly becoming a smaller place with globalisation occurring everywhere. The process of internationalising higher education institutions through partnerships like ours, brings benefits to both MMIHS and BU and to both staff and students. For the latter, it offers new ideas, alternative ways of thinking, insights in the other people’s value systems and cultures, etc. It equips students and staff with knowledge, skills and dispositions to work in culturally diverse and international contexts, providing them with a wider diversity of knowledge and greater understanding of global issues and challenges. In short, the partnership offers many opportunities to gain new experiences, explore new sources and perspectives, and improve their cross-cultural capabilities and, ultimately, their employability.

Secondly, there is an article co-authored by the seven MMIHS students, who came to BU in late 2022-early 2023, highlighting what they had learnt from one of the modules they attended [2]. This paper has as it central feature involving patients and the general public in all aspects of research, which was very much a new idea for these seven MSc students from Nepal.

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health (CMWH)

References:

Marahatta, S., Regmi, P., Knight, A., Kuncova, J., Asbridge, E., Khanal, D., van Teijlingen, E. (2023) Staff-Student Exchange between MMIHS and Bournemouth University (UK). Journal of Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences, 8(1): 1–5. https://doi.org/10.3126/jmmihs.v8i1.57265
Khatiwada, S., Gautam, P., Koju, A., Niraula, B., Khanal, G., Sitaula, A., Lamichhane, J., Regmi, P., van Teijlingen, E. (2023) Patient and Public Engagement in Health Research: Learning from UK Ideas. Journal of Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences, 8(1): 28–35. https://doi.org/10.3126/jmmihs.v8i1.57268

July 16, 2023

New ways of publishing: Qeios one more time!

BU research, Featured academics, Global engagement, innovation, international, open access, PG research, Publishing, Research communication, Training, Uncategorized, 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

June 14, 2023

Bournemouth University mentioned in Pakistan

Featured academics, Global engagement, international, open access, Publishing, Research communication, Research news, Uncategorized, 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

May 14, 2023

New ways of publishing?

COVID-19, Featured academics, Global engagement, international, open access, PG research, Publishing, Research news, Research Training, student research, Uncategorized, 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

May 9, 2023

The Journal of Asian Midwives accepted for inclusion by Scopus

BU research, Featured academics, Global engagement, Impact, international, Knowledge Exchange, open access, Publishing, Research Centres, Uncategorized, 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

April 20, 2023

New publication Abier Hamadi, PhD student in FHSS

BU research, Doctoral College, Featured academics, Global engagement, international, open access, Postgraduate Research, Publishing, Research news, Uncategorized, Women's Academic Network, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

Congratulations to Abier Hamidi on the acceptance of her Ph.D. paper ‘Facilitators and barriers to condom use in Middle East and North Africa: a systematic review’. [1] This review has been registered on PROSPERO. [2] The Journal of Public Health is part of BU’s publishing deal with Springer, hence it will free open access when published.

Abier is supervised by Dr. Pramod Regmi, Senior Lecturer in International Health and the Global Engagement Lead in the Department of Nursing Sciences, and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen in the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH). Earlier Abier published ‘HIV epidemic in Libya: Identifying gaps’ in 2021. [3]

References:

Hamidi, A., Regmi, P., van Teijlingen, E. (2023) Facilitators and barriers to condom use in Middle East and North Africa: a systematic review, Journal of Public Health, (accepted)
Hamidi, A., van Teijlingen, E., Regmi, P. (2021) Facilitators and barriers to condom use in Middle East and North Africa: a systematic review. PROSPERO CRD42021297160
Hamidi, A., Regmi, P., van Teijlingen, E. (2021) HIV epidemic in Libya: Identifying gaps, Journal of the International Association of Providers of AIDS Care, 20 :1-5 https://doi.org/10.1177/23259582211053964 .

April 12, 2023

BU signs up to Jisc agreement with the American Psychological Association

BU research, Guidance, open access, REF Subjects, Research assessment, Research communication, Research news, writing Suzy Wignall

BU authors can now publish OA for free in select journals with American Psychological Association. Read on to find out more!

Authors affiliated with UK institutions participating in APA’s Jisc agreement may publish open access in hybrid journals published by APA at no cost to the author, provided that:

The article’s corresponding author is affiliated with a participating institution’s UK campus.
The article is accepted after August 1, 2022.
The article is an original peer-reviewed research article or review article.

All articles under this agreement will be published under the CC-BY copyright license. Upon publication, articles will be made immediately open access.

You can find further information on how to submit an article for consideration and other key information, such as maximum number of articles, here.

As a reminder, BU holds a number of agreements with key publishers, many of which allow you to publish open access for free. You can read more about them here.

If you have any queries, please contact the Open Access team.

April 10, 2023

Speaking at this week’s Nepal Health Research Council conference

BU research, Events, international, Public engagement, Research news, Uncategorized Edwin van Teijlingen

Professor Edwin van Teijlingen in the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH) has been invited to speak at this week’s annual conference of the Nepal Health Research Council (NHRC). His presentation on Wednesday 12th April ‘Why is evidence synthesis centre important for Nepal? An opportunity for networking, collaboration & partnership’is based on a recently co-authored paper on this topic [1]. On behalf of his colleagues from the University of Huddersfield and the NHRC, he will argue that there is a need for a National Evidence Synthesis Centre under NHRC which can synthesize global, national and local research evidence that is relevant to a local context and meets demand of programme managers and policymakers at every level in Nepal. The Centre should also promote the use of systematic review findings to appropriate decision-makers to ensure they have the best chance of getting implemented. Regular evidence synthesis can also contribute to the tracking of progress of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) indicators. Such national centre should work in close collaboration with national and international academics and research institutions, national, regional and local governments, health experts and care providers.

There are many types of outputs that use evidence synthesis, such as policy briefs, systematic reviews, clinical practice guidelines and so on. Finally, establishing a National Evidence Synthesis Centre would be very timely to help develop mechanisms of evidence synthesis as well as improve research communication. The first step could be the planning of a national workshop to identifying evidence gaps, next independent research teams can be formed for evidence synthesis while experts from institutions in the global north can provide mentoring support for capacity building and help ensure the centre’s sustainability.

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen is currently in Kathmandu as through Bournemouth University’s Erasmus+ exchange with Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences (MMIHS) in Nepal. As part of his teaching commitments at MMIHS he will conducted workshop sessions on academic writing and publishing based on the textbook Academic Writing and Publishing in Health & Social Sciences [2], which was published by Social Science Baha in Kathmandu in 2022.

References:

Simkhada P, Dhimal, M, van Teijlingen E, Gyanwali P (2022) Nepal Urgently Needs a National Evidence Synthesis Centre, J Nepal Health Res Council, 20(3): i-ii.
Wasti, S.P., van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, P.P., Hundley, V. with Shreesh, K. (Eds.) (2022) Academic Writing and Publishing in Health & Social Sciences, Kathmandu, Nepal.

March 19, 2023

A global health journal with a diverse editorial board

BU research, COVID-19, Global engagement, international, open access, Publishing, research integrity, Uncategorized, Women's Academic Network, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

A recent study of 43 journals in the global health field found that PLOS Global Public Health has the joint highest diversity index, whilst also recording the maximum geographic diversity score! [1] The paper by a team from Pakistan and Canada addressed the question: “What is the current state of ethics of diversity and representation in global health publications?” In order to be able to answer this question they developed their own Journal Diversity Index (JDI) to measure three parameters of diversity and representation, namely gender, geographic & socioeconomic status.

The fact that PLOS Global Public Health came out top is good news for the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH) as we published a paper in this journal last month. [2] Our qualitative paper ‘Perceptions around COVID-19 and vaccine hesitancy: A qualitative study in Kaski district, Western Nepal’ comprises 19 interviews in the city of Pokhara and its surrounding rural areas.

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

References:

Manan, M.R., Nawaz, I., Rahman, S. et al. (2023). Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion on Editorial Boards of Global Health Journals. Asian Bioethics Review. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41649-023-00243-8
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. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgph.0000564

Tagged / open access

Two papers based on ERASMUS+ exchange

Bournemouth University mentioned in Pakistan

The Journal of Asian Midwives accepted for inclusion by Scopus

BU signs up to Jisc agreement with the American Psychological Association

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