Launching the Israel Journal of Health Policy Research: Why a new journal? Why now? Why open access?

Use the link to access the full text editorial from the first issue of the new open access, peer-reviewed journal published by BioMed Central on behalf of the Israel National Institute for Health Policy and Health Services Research.  “The Israel Journal of Health Policy Research (IJHPR) is a new, open access journal. IJHPR seeks to promote intensive intellectual interactions among scholars and practitioners from Israel and other countries regarding all aspects of health policy, with particular attention to Israel. The ultimate aim of these interactions is to contribute to the development of health policy in Israel, and also to foster wider communication between health scientists and policy analysts in Israel and their colleagues around the world. This inaugural editorial provides an overview of the new journal's rationale and its key features...   As indicated by our official Aims and Scope statement on the journal's website, the Israel Journal of Health Policy Research (IJHPR) seeks to promote intensive intellectual interactions among scholars and practitioners from Israel and other countries regarding all aspects of health policy, with particular attention to Israel. These include policy-relevant contributions from any country in fields ranging from health services research, public health, health promotion, health economics, health care management, and the ethics, sociology, and political science of health care, so long as these contributions draw implications for health and healthcare policy in Israel. The ultimate aim of these intellectual interactions is to contribute to the development of health policy in Israel and to foster wider communication between health scientists and policy analysts in Israel and their colleagues around the world.  To understand the objectives of our journal, readers also need to know a bit about its parent organization. The Israel Journal of Health Policy Research is the official publication of The Israel National Institute for Health Policy and Health Services Research. The Israel National Institute is an independent organization whose activities include promoting and funding health services research as well as organizing various forums for the dissemination of research and discussions of current policy issues... Finally, a word about why we have chosen the online, open-access format, the opportunities that this format affords us, and our choice of BioMed Central as the journal's publisher.  Online/open access is the fastest growing segment of the academic journal market, due to its wide reach, low costs, and fast turnaround times. It is particularly suited to the needs of a journal such as ours that seeks to promote international discourse focused on the health system of a specific, relatively small, country. While few libraries are likely to subscribe to a print journal focused on Israeli health care, many researchers and practitioners around the world are likely to be interested in those aspects of Israeli health care that touch upon their own areas of activity...”