Welcome to the second issue of Wits Journal of Clinical Medicine.
The Wits Journal of Clinical Medicine was created to provide an opportunity to highlight research activities in the School of Clinical Medicine of the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Witwatersrand. Since its inception, there have been several enquiries as to which manuscripts are accepted for publication. From the outset, the editorial team has mandated that all manuscripts in the field of Clinical Medicine will be considered for publication. More recently, the editorial team together with the publisher has decided to consider for publication in this journal manuscripts emanating from all South African universities as well as from Africa and other parts of the world. All manuscripts received by the editorial office will be initially screened by the editorial team and those deemed worthy of possible publication in the journal will go through a peer-review process before publication.
This leads me to the point as to what criteria are applied for consideration for publication. Many factors are considered by journal editors for manuscript acceptance and publication. General criteria that the editor considers when making the initial evaluation include whether the article submitted is in accordance with the overall mission of the journal and whether there is a match between the gist of the article and the interests of the journal readership.(1) Additional considerations for evaluating a manuscript include assessing the overall quality of the manuscript, whether the research methodology is sound, and whether the research adds to the knowledge base in the area of research presented. The Wits Journal of Clinical Medicine editorial team adheres to many of these criteria.
As with most journals, the editorial team assesses the originality of the research that has been presented for publication. Thus, original research work in the field of clinical medicine will be given priority for publication. There has been a research trend in many South African universities, particularly at the MMed level, to perform audits of a variety of conditions, treatments and outcomes and then to publish these results. Generally, audits are viewed by many journal editors as lacking originality. However, there are many studies where the research audits are unique to the South African and African context and have led to a substantial advancement in the knowledge base of a particular condition in these regions. Furthermore, these studies often make recommendations on how to advance the management of particular conditions that are unique to our environment. Many manuscripts from South Africa probably fall into this category and the Wits Journal of Clinical Medicine will support these clinical and translational research endeavours.
In this issue of the journal, the majority of the manuscripts reflect the ethos of careful study of conditions that are unique to our country. The editorial board hopes that you will enjoy reading this issue of the journal.
Prof P. Manga
Editor