At the CCIH 2016 Annual Conference, Dr. Nathan Grills gives practical tips on getting research and writing published in the area of global health from a Christian perspective.

1. Publishing:
tips from the field
Letting your experience and
results see the light of day
Nathan Grills (MBBS, DPHIL, DPH, MPH),
Associate Editor - Academic, CJGH
Daniel O’Neill (MD, MA(TS))
Managing Editor, CJGH

2. Open Access Since 2014:
16,743 sessions
58,765 page views
Authors 57% USA, 26% LMIC
Peer-reviewed, No APC
PubMed Indexing soon

3. Why research and publish?
• Participate in collective wisdom and dialogue
• Good stewardship of your skills / experiences
• Refines and improves the quality of your work
• Improve the quality of the work of others
– Eg of ebola
• Advocate for people that you serve:
– if they aren’t counted they don’t count
• Highlight your organization
• Links you to some amazing people
• Professional development
• You might die if you don’t publish! (promotion!)
– Publish or perish!
– Or perish whilst publishing...

5. Planning phase
• A lot of what you do is research already
– A new clinical method for LMICs?
– Investigating strange associations?
– Evaluation of a new program eg. disability
community outreach
• Recognise it as research...not in retrospect
– Work backwards from the final result
Journal CJGH  Paper showing importance  ethics required 
Authors  endline data  baseline data  research assistants 
clear methodology
• Bring collaborators/authors together
– http://www.icmje.org (medical journal editors)
– Avoid conflict by planning ahead

6. Submission: where to publish?
• Choose the right journal (CJGH)
– Impact factor, journal scope, editorial board, Indexed,
peer reviewed, who has published there
http://www.globalhealthpolicy.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Global-Health-
Journals-2012.pdf
• Aim high ....and have a thick skin
– Lancet, NEJM, JAMA
• Choose an affordable journal (CJGH)
– Trap- realising the fee is $2400 after acceptance....
and they don’t waive it!
• Open access vs subscription journals?
– Lower threshold for publishing
– Wider readership including in LMICs

7. Avoid predatory journals
• Aim high but don’t stoop to low
• Predatory journals and conferences:
– Beware your ego getting in the way.
“Hey baby, your so intelligent.... come and publish
with me”.
– If you are asked to submit (unless you are
famous) then its probably predatory!
– Low quality journals
– Drag your name through the mud
– Publishing in such a journal can devalue your
work and name
– Hard to pick these days
• Addressed in the USA
– https://scholarlyoa.com/individual-journals/

8. Pick the dodgy journal

9. Peer review

10. The Peer review process
• Follow directions and guidelines...mostly
• CJGH works with you, not against you
– Mentoring, advise, feedback
– Missional in its vision – to serve Christ’s workers
– Contact the editor before submission if you are
unsure (CJGH is responsive)
• Editorial board review- quick Yes/No:
– editors keen to find a quick reason to cull
– This is helpful for you
– Spending 1 year in the journal review merri-go-
round can see your work become irrelevant
• Then sent out to peer review
– 4 week process, Back and forth, email editor if no news

11. Responding to reviewers

12. Responding to reviewers
• Its not personal
– usually.......
• Be nice
– your comments may go back to reviewers
– Acknowledge their input
– its time intensive and usually voluntary
• Feel free to disagree...but give a rationale
– a good “short communication”?  no!
– “should include children”  not redoing study
• Still not accepted?
– Persevere with reviews
– take feedback and move on

13. Overcoming the Obstacles
• Peer review rigor? Review others articles
• Tyranny of urgent? Designate time
• Poor Library access? Free on line
• No skills in research? Recruit partners
• No Research Assistants? Recruit
volunteers and interns
– University: MD student research etc
• No IRB? Understand the Common Rule
• Cost? Can we afford not to?

14. Publishing Options
• Some relevant journals
– The Lancet Global Health
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo
– Global Health Science and Practice
http://www.ghspjournal.org
– Christian Journal for Global Health http://journal.cjgh.org
– The Journal of Global Health http://www.jogh.org
– Global Health Action http://www.globalhealthaction.net
– Bulletin of the World Health Organization
http://www.who.int/bulletin/en/
– Journal of Global Health (Colombia University)
http://www.ghjournal.org/
– Journal of Epidemiology and Global Health
http://www.jegh.org
– British Medical Journal http://www.bmj.com
– PLOS1 Global Health
http://journals.plos.one/browse/global_health

15. Mission Journals
• EMQ www.emqonline.com
• IBMR www.internationalbulletin.org,
• MDJ http://missiodeijournal.com/
• IAMS http://missionstudies.org/
• ASM http://asmweb.org/content/missiology
• JMP http://journalofmissionalpractice.com/
• IJFM http://www.ijfm.org/
• WCIDJ http://www.wcidjournal.org
• Oxford http://trn.sagepub.com

16. Acknowledgements:
CCIH
The CJGH editorial board
Centre4Him,
CJGH Reviewers
CJGH Editors

17. Journal.cjgh.org
We look forward to
receiving...and accepting ....
your submission / review soon!
ngrills@unimelb.edu.au dwoneill@cjgh.org
Thank
you!