A platform for the international exchange of ideas: the Israel Journal of Health Policy Research celebrates its first decade

For ten years the Israel Journal of Health Policy Research has provided a platform for exchange of knowledge and insights on health policy. It is a unique attempt by scholars and practitioners in one small country to share their knowledge with the world and, in turn to learn from experience elsewhere. Never has this role been as important as during the COVID pandemic, a message that is very clear when we look at failings elsewhere.

Sharing reflections and expressing appreciation upon completing a decade as co-editor of the IJHPR

The Israel Journal of Health Policy Research (IJHPR) was launched in January 2012. In December 2021 it will be completing 10 years of continuous publication. I have had the privilege of serving as the journal’s co-editor in chief during this period, and after ten years of service I am now preparing to step down from that role. IJHPR achievements of which I am particularly proud include remaining true to its mission, attracting manuscripts from virtually all the Israeli institutions engaged in health policy research as well as many leading institutions abroad, widening the circle of Israeli professionals who are submitting manuscripts to journals, and helping many established Israeli academics expand their repertoires to include articles with strong policy components. Several people and organizations have helped make editing the IJHPR such a wonderful experience for me. They include IJHPR co-editor Avi Israeli, IJHPR associate editor Steve Schoenbaum, the Israel National Institute for Health Policy Research (which sponsors the journal), BioMed Central (which publishes the journal), the Myers-JDC-Brookdale Institute (my employer), my family (and particularly my wife, Laura Rosen), and the thousands of authors who have chosen to publish with the IJHPR. May the journal’s second decade be even better than its first one!

Innovation and The Israel Journal of Health Policy Research

The Israel Journal of Health Policy Research (IJHPR) is a peer-reviewed, on-line, open access journal, sponsored by Israel’s National Institute for Health Policy Research. We believe that it is both an innovative platform and a platform for innovation. Within just 2 years of its launch in 2012, the IJHPR was accepted into the prestigious Web of Science – primarily because of its innovative positioning as a journal that is simultaneously national and international. This positioning has contributed to annual growth of over 20% in both submissions and publications and to the IJHPR being ranked among the top half of public health journals, just 6 years after its launch date.The IJHPR has also served as a platform for numerous innovations, including: Sharing with the international community information about Israeli innovations in public health, health policy, health care delivery, and more.Enhancing the impact of empirical studies by Israeli scholars via commentaries by leading scholars from abroad – including 18 commentaries from scholars based at Harvard and one commentary by a Nobel laureate in economics.Developing a new genre of articles for Israel, namely, broad policy analyses focused on major challenges facing Israeli health care.Creating dynamic, constantly growing, article collections in such fields as digital health, pharmaceutical policy and health care equity, to highlight areas of excellence as well as important issues in Israeli health care and health policy.Disseminating to a wide audience the essence of major Israeli health policy workshops and conferences.We feel that the IJHPR has significant potential to contribute more, and in new ways, in the years ahead. We look forward to your suggestions for innovative enhancements of the IJHPR.