In an exciting development, the Colleges of Medicine of South Africa, through a joint venture with AOSIS publishing and in collaboration with the South African Committee of Deans, launched its first scientific journal in July 2023. The brain child of CMSA President, Prof Johan Fagan, the Journal of the Colleges of Medicine of South Africa (JCMSA) is a peer reviewed medical and dental journal.
With a primary focus on South Africa, Africa and lower-and-middle-income countries (LMICs), the JCMSA will be a fully online, open access, multi-disciplinary, premier, high-quality publication with high visibility; impacting healthcare globally by amplifying LMIC research. The JCMSA will not only enhance global visibility for the CMSA, but also for South African medicine, challenging the narrative that publishing in high income journals should be more valued than publishing in an African journal. At the heart of the initiative is the recognition that many authors are unable to publish their research due to the cost of article processing charges (APCs). “We want to ensure that the ability to pay is never a barrier to sharing research: for the CMSA this is an important matter of social justice,” said Prof Fagan.
