AJHESP FAQs

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For authors, reviewers, and readers • Version 1.0 • May 2026

This FAQ covers the questions most commonly asked by authors, reviewers, and readers. If your question is not answered here, write to the editorial office at [editor@africanjhesp.org]. The FAQ is reviewed annually and updated as the journal evolves.

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A. ABOUT THE JOURNAL

Q1: What is AJHESP?

The African Journal of Health Economics, Systems and Policy (AJHESP) is a peer-reviewed, fully open-access journal published under the auspices of the Pan African Medical Journal (PAMJ). It is the first African-led, bilingual journal dedicated exclusively to health economics, health policy, and health systems research, with Africa as the primary intellectual agenda.

AJHESP was founded in 2026 by Co-Editors-in-Chief Dr. Alex O. Adjagba (UNICEF) and Prof. Justice Nonvignon (University of Ghana / Management Sciences for Health), together with a founding editorial board of ten leading African health economists and policy researchers.

Q2: What makes AJHESP different from other health journals?

AJHESP is the only indexed journal that:

• Places African health financing, policy, and systems problems as its primary intellectual agenda -- not as a geographic subfield.
• Operates in both English and French.
• Is led by an African editorial board in which all founding editors share equal authority.
• Is published open-access with no APC for authors from low-income countries.

We do not exist to replicate, in an African setting, research already conducted elsewhere. Every submission is evaluated against one foundational question: What problem, specific to or distinctively shaped by the African context, does your work attempt to solve?

Q3: Who is AJHESP for?

AJHESP is addressed to: health economists, health systems specialists, and policy analysts in African academia, think tanks, and government; officials from Ministries of Health and Finance across the continent; multilateral and bilateral development partners; non-state health sector stakeholders; researchers in global health; and early-career African scholars seeking a credible, indexed home for applied, problem-focused scholarship.

Q4: In which languages does AJHESP publish?

AJHESP publishes in English and French. This is a deliberate commitment to the linguistic reality of the African continent, where more than half of countries work primarily in French.

Manuscripts may be submitted in English or French. All manuscripts in French must include an English translation of the title, abstract, and keywords. Abstracts are accepted in English, French, Spanish, or Portuguese. Authors are also encouraged to provide an optional additional abstract in an African language of their choice.

Language quality alone is not grounds for rejection. If the scientific content meets our standards, the editorial office will work with authors on language improvement prior to final acceptance.

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🔬 B. SCOPE AND WHAT WE PUBLISH

Q5: What topics does AJHESP cover?

AJHESP publishes across nine thematic areas:

1. Health Financing Systems and Architecture
2. Universal Health Coverage and Financial Protection
3. Economic Evaluation and Priority-Setting
4. Public Financial Management and Budget Governance
5. Pharmaceutical Economics
6. Determinants of Health and Economic Consequences of Ill-Health
7. Health Systems Research with an Economics Lens
8. Health Economics and Financing in Fragile and Conflict-Affected Settings
9. Epistemological and Methodological Frontiers

Research from outside Africa is welcome provided it has explicit, substantiated relevance to African health systems.

Q6: What types of articles does AJHESP publish?

AJHESP publishes: Original Research Articles (5,000–7,000 words); Systematic Reviews / Meta-Analyses (≤8,000 words); Scoping Reviews (≤7,000 words); Policy Analyses (4,000–6,000 words); Methodological Papers (5,000–7,000 words); Priority-Setting / Resource Allocation Analyses (4,000–6,000 words); Commentaries and Perspectives (2,000–3,000 words); Brief Communications (1,500–2,500 words); and Editorials (1,000–2,000 words, commissioned only).

Q7: What will result in desk rejection without peer review?

The following types of submissions will be rejected at the desk stage:

• Clinical trials or epidemiological studies without a substantive health economics, policy, or systems component.
• Standard descriptive costing studies that do not engage with the policy problem.
• Studies applying an analytical framework to an African dataset without articulating what specific African problem is being addressed.
• Health economics research from high-income countries without explicit, substantiated transferable insights for African contexts.
• Unsolicited opinion pieces without evidential grounding.
• Systematic or scoping reviews that report purely clinical effectiveness without any economic or policy framing, lack a protocol or quality appraisal, or do not articulate a contribution beyond summarising existing literature.

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📤 C. SUBMITTING YOUR MANUSCRIPT

Q8: How do I submit a manuscript?

All submissions are made online through the PAMJ Manuscript Hut™, the submission and peer review platform used by all PAMJ journals. You will need to register for a free account before submitting. The submission link is available on the AJHESP journal page.

Do not submit manuscripts by email. Email submissions will not be considered.

Q9: Can I submit a paper already published elsewhere?

No. AJHESP only considers original manuscripts that have not been published, posted as a preprint, or are not currently under review at another journal. Simultaneous submission to multiple journals is a violation of publication ethics and will result in rejection and potential reporting to the author’s institution.

Preprints: Posting your manuscript to a preprint server (such as medRxiv or AfricArXiv) before or after submission to AJHESP is permitted, provided this is disclosed at the time of submission.

Q10: Who should be listed as an author?

AJHESP follows the ICMJE authorship criteria. To qualify as an author, each person must have:

1. Made a substantial contribution to conception, design, data collection, or analysis.
2. Drafted or critically revised the manuscript.
3. Approved the final version.
4. Agreed to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

Contributors who do not meet all four criteria should be acknowledged in the Acknowledgements section. Ghost authorship and gift authorship are violations of publication ethics.

Q11: What format should my manuscript be in?

Manuscripts must be submitted in Microsoft Word (.docx) format. PDF-only submissions are not accepted. Figures must be submitted as separate PNG files at the highest resolution available. Tables should be included at the end of the manuscript in Word format, not as images.

AJHESP provides a manuscript template available for download on the journal website. Using the template is strongly recommended but not compulsory.

Q12: Do I need to suggest peer reviewers?

You may suggest up to two potential peer reviewers when submitting. Suggested reviewers must not have co-authored with any of the manuscript’s authors in the past five years and must not be from the same institution.

You may also request exclusion of specific individuals from reviewing your manuscript, with a reason. The editors will respect reasonable exclusion requests.

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D. PEER REVIEW

Q13: What peer review process does AJHESP use?

AJHESP uses double-blind peer review: neither authors nor reviewers know each other’s identity during the review process. This differs from PAMJ-OH, which uses single-blind review. The double-blind process is deliberate -- it reduces the risk that authorship identity, institutional affiliation, or geographic origin influences the review decision.

Q14: What happens after I submit?

1. Initial screening (within 5 working days): The editorial office checks that the manuscript meets basic formatting requirements and is within scope.
2. Editorial assessment (within 10 working days): An Associate Editor conducts an initial scientific review.
3. External peer review: Manuscripts that pass editorial assessment are sent to at least two external peer reviewers. Typical time is 4–6 weeks.
4. Editorial decision: The Associate Editor makes a recommendation and the Co-Editors-in-Chief issue a decision (Accept, Major revision, Minor revision, or Reject).

Q15: How long does peer review take?

We aim to issue an initial decision within 8 weeks of submission. Authors will be notified if review is delayed beyond 10 weeks. AJHESP does not offer accelerated or fast-track review as a paid service.

Q16: Can I appeal an editorial decision?

Yes. If you believe your manuscript was rejected in error, you may submit a written appeal within 30 days of the decision. Appeals must be based on scientific grounds. The Co-Editors-in-Chief will review the appeal and respond within 15 working days.

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E. ARTICLE PROCESSING CHARGES AND OPEN ACCESS

Q17: Is AJHESP open access?

Yes. All articles published in AJHESP are fully open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence. This means anyone can read, download, share, adapt, and build on the work without restriction, provided the original source is cited.

Q18: How much is the Article Processing Charge (APC)?

AJHESP uses a tiered APC structure based on World Bank country income classification:

• Low-Income Countries (LICs): USD 0
• Lower-Middle-Income Countries (LMICs): USD 0–300
• Upper-Middle-Income Countries (UMICs): USD 400–600
• High-Income Countries (HICs): USD 700–1,200
• UN system agencies: USD 1,700

APCs are charged only upon acceptance. There is no submission fee.

Q19: How do I apply for an APC waiver?

At the time of submission, indicate in the covering letter that you are requesting a waiver. You will need to provide a brief statement (max 200 words) explaining the financial constraint and confirm that no other funding is available.

Q20: I peer-reviewed for AJHESP. Can I get an APC waiver?

Yes. Reviewers who complete at least one high-quality review for AJHESP in a 12-month period are entitled to claim a partial APC waiver (up to USD 300) on their next submission to AJHESP or any affiliated PAMJ journal.

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F. INDEXING AND VISIBILITY

Q21: Is AJHESP indexed?

AJHESP is new. It will pursue independent indexing in PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus, and Web of Science, which typically requires 2–3 years of publication history. Every article receives a DOI (Digital Object Identifier) at the time of publication.

Q22: In what formats are articles published?

All AJHESP articles are published in HTML, PDF, and XML. HTML publication supports screen readers and accessibility tools.

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G. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND RESEARCH ETHICS

Q23: Can I use AI tools in preparing my manuscript?

AJHESP follows the PAMJ policy on AI use. AI tools (including large language models such as ChatGPT) may not be listed as authors. Their use must be disclosed in the Methods or Acknowledgements section. Authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy and integrity of the content.

Q24: What are AJHESP's policies on research ethics?

All research involving human participants must have received approval from a relevant ethics committee. The reference number must be included in the manuscript. AJHESP follows COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics) guidelines on all ethics matters.

Q25: How must conflicts of interest be declared?

All authors must declare any financial or non-financial conflict of interest at the time of submission. All articles must include a funding statement, even if no external funding was received.

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H. FOR PEER REVIEWERS

Q26: How do I become a peer reviewer for AJHESP?

Experienced researchers can register as a reviewer through the PAMJ Manuscript Hut™. Provide a short biography including your affiliation, research focus, and publication record.

Q27: What does AJHESP expect from a peer review?

Reviews should assess: scientific rigour; appropriateness of the analytical framework; clarity and reproducibility; policy relevance; and whether claims are proportionate to evidence. Reviews should be constructive and specific.

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I. CONTACT

Q28: How do I contact the editorial office?

• General enquiries: editorial@ajhesp.org
• Technical issues with submission platform: editor@panafrican-med-journal.com
• APC and waiver requests: apc@ajhesp.org
• Special issues enquiries: specialissues@ajhesp.org
• Podcast: podcast@ajhesp.org

Q29: Can I transfer a manuscript from PAMJ to AJHESP?

Yes. If your manuscript is better suited for AJHESP, you may request a transfer. The manuscript will retain its original submission date and review history. Transfers are subject to editorial assessment at AJHESP.