NJGP: Achieving Visibility

Abstract

I was appointed Editor-in-Chief of The Nigerian Journal of General Practice (NJGP) in November 2013. On February 5, 2014 I accepted the appointment and actually took over from the immediate past Editor-in-Chief on April 5, 2014. The journal has been in existence since 1985. The past editors did incredibly marvelous job. It is not easy to do what they did under the prevailing circumstances. Authors send hard copies and soft copies of their manuscripts via E-mail to the editor. He goes through, does technical modifications and sends back 
to the author for implementation. The author implements the modifications and sends back to the editor again either by post 
or E-mail. The editor receives it, calls his friends on phone informing them of articles to be sent to them for peer review. 
When they accept, he sends the article to them either by post or E-mail for peer review. I will stop so far in describing the 
daunting laborious process of the manuscript management system.

Past editors did all these and then published by print only method. The logistics of printing and distribution to readers 
all over the country can only be imagined than experienced. Unfortunately, I experienced it. The last edition of our journal (November 2014 issue) which happens to be my maiden edition was produced that way.Who are our readers? They are members of our Association 
of General and Private Medical Practitioners of Nigeria (AGPMPN) and a few others that may be interested in the Association. These form our readership audience. A recent unpublished study done on the readership of the NJGP in Anambra State of Nigeria shows that less than 50% of members access the journal hard copy. Less than 50% of those that access it read it at all. The journal is not in electronic archival format where readership and citations can be tracked and captured. The immediate past Editor-in-Chief Dr. Francis Edo Olotu 
hoisted the journal on African Journals online AJOL but its access was restricted with a fee. After all the herculean task of 
manuscript management and print only production, very few people can access it. Its accessibility is also limited to Nigeria. What a wasted labour.