SSPH+ Journals

The International Journal of Public Health and Public Health Reviews are independent society journals owned and published by the non-profit Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+) using the systems and services of Frontiers. The journals are managed by a fully independent editorial office based at the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH). For more information, please refer to our journal policy.

SSPH+ is a member of the Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers (ALPSP).

IJPH and PHR are listed in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) and have been awarded the DOAJ seal.

WAIVERS

APC discounts for LMIC First Authors

SSPH+ will provide a limited number of APC discounts for manuscripts submitted to IJPH and PHR. In order to qualify, the first author must be affiliated with an institution in a low- or middle-income country. Please see the individual journal pages for the reduced APC fees.

In order to apply for a discount, please complete the APC support application form for either IJPH or PHR when the manuscript is submitted. Requests will be assessed on a case-by-case basis.

APC Waiver Program for SSPH+ Affiliates

In December 2024, the SSPH+ Affiliate APC Waiver Program was extended until the end of 2025.

IJPH and PHR manuscripts with successful peer-review and with at least one author affiliated with SSPH+ (at time of submission) will be published free of charge (no APC is due) under the following conditions:

  • Manuscripts must be submitted by 31.12.2025
  • At least one author is an SSPH+ Faculty member or is part of the research group or department of an SSPH+ Faculty member (i.e., same primary affiliation)
  • To qualify for this SSPH+ APC Waiver Program, review articles (all forms, including policy briefs) must be submitted to Public Health Reviews and original articles to International Journal of Public Health, thus, review articles submitted to IJPH will not qualify for the fee waiver.
  • As part of our efforts to strengthen the journals’ quality and performance, beneficiaries of SSPH+ fee waivers are expected to provide feedback – upon request – about their experience with the review and publishing process (simple short survey).

Find more information and procedure here.

GLOBEQUITY

Since 2021, the GLOBEQUITY program has offered APC discounts and waivers for first authors affiliated with institutions in low- and middle-income countries (research4life) and some additional countries where there is limited access to APC funding. GLOBEQUITY is funded by the open science programme of swissuniversities, with contributions from SSPH+.

Due to limited funding, PHR and IJPH are currently not accepting new applications for GLOBEQUITY APC waivers.

Quality in Publishing

On November 30th 2023, the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) announced that they will no longer fund Open Access articles in special issues due to the supposed use of “inconsistent process”. We oppose this policy, since we believe that it is not possible to determine quality based on whether an article is published as part of a special issue or as a regular publication. Indeed, our journals operate exactly the same rigorous peer review process for special issue and regular submissions. We believe that scientific funding policy should instead focus on the true problems in scientific publishing: threats to editorial independence and rigor in peer review processes. Read our full response to this SNSF policy here.

Prof. em. Nino Künzli, Chair SSPH+ Journals and Editor in Chief, Int J of Public Health
Dr. Christopher Woodrow, Managing Editor SSPH+ Journals, Swiss TPH
Dr. Anke Berger, former Managing Editor SSPH+ Journals, Swiss TPH