PEER REVIEWED JOURNALS OF AYURVEDA - AN APPRAISAL -

Introduction: Many scholarly journals focused on Ayurveda research have been in existence for many decades, however, despite their long history and firm establishment in the scholarly community, peer review has been introduced recently. In academic publishing, the goal of peer review is to assess the quality of articles submitted for publication in a scholarly journal. The review could be either pre-publication or post-publication. The post-publication peer review has not yet gained wide popularity and acceptance in the world of science. Generally, three types of pre-publication peer review are followed: single-blinded, double-blinded and open review. Most of the journals publishing Ayurveda Research follow blinded pre-publication review. Objective: To analyze critically and report the status of peer reviewed journals of Ayurveda being published. Methods and Materials: A comprehensive search was undertaken and relevant print and online sources were consulted. A list of 83 periodicals / journals was prepared and analyzed on the basis of regularity, subscription fee, periodicity, publisher, mode of dissemination and year of establishment. A quality assessment of the journals was also done keeping the usually accepted norms of scientific publishing. Results: We could list 20 monthly, 37 quarterly, 15 bimonthly and 5 half yearly and 1 yearly periodical. However, clear data was not available for 5 periodicals. Five journals provided discount to students. Seven journals were irregular in periodicity and three were found to have been discontinued. English (62) is being used as the language of communication in most of the periodicals followed by bilingual (9), multilingual (4), Hindi (6) and Gujarati (2). Out of all the periodicals, 47 declared themselves as ‘peer reviewed’ and 31 were of general (non- peer reviewed)nature. Further, 5 of them belonged to the category of newsletters. 27 were available in print, 30 were available online and 26 were available both in print and online formats. Though, there are a huge number of journals publishing research on Ayurveda, it appears that these journals are still in the stage of infancy.During last couple of years, Ayurveda sector is witnessing mushrooming of new journals, mostly open access and online ones. However, most of them are struggling to maintain the generally accepted academic standards. Researchers need to be careful and make sure that their work is not being communicated to predatory journals. Conclusion: There is an urgent need to create awareness among Ayurveda Researchers regarding these problems. Further, there is also a need to conduct frequent training programs on research methodology and scientific writing skills to the Ayurveda researchers. Over all, it was observed that, there are no standard / uniform guidelines applicable for Ayurveda journals. Though certain efforts have been attempted earlier, there is a need for streamlining the strategies.