Launching the South Eastern European Journal of Public Health

Vesna Bjegović-Mikanović¹

¹ University of Belgrade, Faculty of Medicine, Belgrade, Serbia.

Correspondence: Prof. Vesna Bjegović-Mikanović, MD, MSc, PhD, Vice Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade;

Address: Dr Subotica 15, 11000, Belgrade, Serbia;

Telephone: +381 11 2643 830; E-mail: bjegov@med.bg.ac.rs

It is my pleasure to announce the start of a new public health journal, the South Eastern European Journal of Public Health (SEEJPH), published by Jacobs Company in Germany and managed by the executive editor Dr. Genc Burazeri MPH, PhD, Tirana Medical University and Maastricht University. The journal will start with two editions per year in 2014 and builds on the success of the Forum for Public Health funded by the German Stability Pact over the first decade of this Century. It also builds on the very impressive last editions of the Albanian Medical Journal in 2012-2013.

The forthcoming South Eastern European Journal of Public Health (SEEJPH) is an open-access, international peer-reviewed journal involving all areas of health sciences. The main focus of the journal, however, is on public health. In addition, this journal encourages submissions from scientists and researcher pertinent particularly to Eastern European countries. From this perspective, the aim of SEEJPH is to offer a means for publication to researchers from the transitional former communist countries of Europe in order promote their scientific work and increase their scientific visibility in Europe and beyond.

Despite their socio-economic and cultural diversity, most of the countries in South Eastern Europe face similar public health challenges. Therefore, public health professionals in South Eastern European region, already for more than a decade, are dedicated to intensively share knowledge, experience and good practice in public health education and research. The sustainability of such cooperation is ensured by willingness and commitment to continue and enlarge the collaboration. The new journal will be one more opportunity for development, implementation and evaluation of joint and country specific activities in public health.

I wish this endeavour full success and assure the editors my full support!

Prof. Vesna Bjegović-Mikanović

ASPHER President Elect (2014-2015)