Medical Journals of Nepal

History of scientific medical journal publication in Nepal

In 2013, Journal of Nepal Medical Association (JNMA) celebrated golden jubilee. Founder Chief Editor of JNMA, Dr. Mrigendra Raj Pandey wrote, “My article was published in Indian Heart Journal way back in 1957 and became the first, which inspired me further and ultimately gave birth to JNMA in 1963”.1Magar A. View of The 50 Glorious Years of JNMA [Internet]. Jnma.com.np. 2013. Available from: http://jnma.com.np/jnma/index.php/jnma/article/view/547/1112 JNMA is the first and oldest medical journal in Nepal published since 1963. In subsequent years, Journal of Institute of Medicine (JIOM) and Journal of Nepal Paediatrics Society (JNEPAS) began publishing.  In September 1998, NDA began publishing Journal of Nepal Dental Association (JNDA) during its first dental conference.

Pubmed Indexed Medical Journals of Nepal

Over the years, many other popular indexation services have developed. These include MedLine, PubMed, EMBASE, SCOPUS, EBSCO Publishing’s Electronic Databases, SCIRUS among others. “PubMed” is just the website, and indexing is actually from the “Medline.”  2Murlimanju BV, Prabhu LV, Prameela MD, Pai MM, Saralaya VV. What is indexing? Indian Journal of Orthopaedics. 2016;50(5):577-578. doi:10.4103/0019-5413.189598.

As of June 2, 2020: 3ftp://ftp.ncbi.nih.gov/pubmed/J_Medline.txt

1. JNMA (Journal of Nepal Medical Association) – JrID 29896
2. KUMJ (Kathmandu University Medical Journal) – JrID 32360
3. JNHRC (Journal of Nepal Health Research Council) – JrID 37846
4. NEPJOPH (Nepalese Journal of Ophthalmology) – JrID 38557
5. JIOM (Journal of the Institute of Medicine) – JrID 28148
   • Selected citations only – population demographics/reproductive health are only indexed

NMCJ (Journal of Nepal Medical College) – JrID 31715 is not currently indexed in Pubmed/Medline.

NJE (Nepal Journal of Epidemiology) – JrID 42241 is not currently indexed in Pubmed/Medline.

The list is subject to change with time.

NEPJOL

NepJOL (Nepal Journals Online) is a database of journals published in Nepal, covering the multidisciplinary subjects including biomedical sciences. NepJOL provides information on each participating journal, including aims and scope, contact details and general information. It also provides tables of contents and abstracts (where available) for all articles published within these journals. 4https://www.nepjol.info/index.php/index/about

NepMed

In 2019, with the collaboration of NHRC and NMA, Nepal MEDLINE (Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online) named as NepMed was established. NepMed is a PubMed inspired database of Nepalese biomedical journals.

SCImago Journal Ranks (SJR), 2020

Journal ranking is widely used in academic circles in the evaluation of an academic journal’s impact and quality. SCImago Journal Rank is developed by SCImago from the widely known algorithm Google PageRank. This indicator shows the visibility of the journals contained in the Scopus database from 1996. It takes into account for both the number of citations received by a journal and the importance or prestige of the journals where such citations come from. The rankings of the 4 journals based on data of April 2021 5http://www.scimagojr.com/journalrank.php?country=NP&category=2701 –

1. Journal of Nepal Health Research Council (SJR 0.264)
   • Impact factor (2020): 0.76
2. Kathmandu University Medical Journal (SJR 0.166)
   • Impact factor (2020: 0.27
3. Journal of Nepal Medical Association (SJR 0.176)
   • Impact factor (2020): 0.36
4. Journal of Nepal Pediatric Society (SJR 0.130)
   • Impact factor (2020): 0.04

The Impact Factor and SJR are two common measurements ranking journal quality. Both measures look at the number of citations the journal has received. Read the differences between Impact factor and SJR.

To acquire comprehensive idea about the status of scientific medical publications in Nepal, read the review here.