Publication of Healthcare Research – Current Scenario and Potential Solutions

Abstract

Background and Aim: Making quick decisions on the eligibility of a research work to accept and publish appears
to be a daunting task for most of the society journals in India. The aims of this study was to compare the extent
of scientific article handling services provided by the Indian and international journals, and to reiterate the
importance of publishing the results of high impact research work in the shortest possible time.
Material and Methods: An observational analysis of 19 Indian and 19 international medical journals affiliated
to subject specific societies was done. The journals were analyzed for the “median time taken from submission
of manuscript to first decision”, availability of “online first” facility and “number of issues” published in a year.
Microsoft Office 2007 was used to formulate the data and presented in a descriptive manner using numbers.
Results: All the international journals analyzed in this study were offering median timelines to first decision
ranging from 7 days to 42 days on their websites compared to only 57.9% (n=11/19) of the Indian journals. The
longest duration to respond among Indian journals is being taken by the Indian Journal of Psychiatry (90 days),
with the shortest timeline being offered by the Indian Journal of Microbiology (5 days). In contrast to international
journals, 52.6% (n=10/19) of Indian journals were only providing the service of “online first” actively on their
websites. Among the international journals, 78.9% (n=15/19) were publishing monthly issues compared to only
26.3% (n=5/19) of Indian journals.
Conclusions: Indian journals published by societies must thrive hard to accelerate the editorial process in a time
bound manner and disseminate the results of impactful research work at the earliest by recruiting large number
of reviewers and skilled technical personnel. Delay in decisions and publications by the journals can hamper the
confidence and trust among research community to send good scientific work.