New journal will contribute to improvements in global healthcare

A new open access journal from Cambridge University Press, Antimicrobial Stewardship and Healthcare Epidemiology (ASHE), will contribute to improving the safety of global healthcare and to curbing the rise in antibiotic resistance.

Published in partnership with The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA), the journal will publish original research in the fields of antimicrobial stewardship, healthcare epidemiology and infection prevention.

It will be an Open Access companion journal to Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology and cover the same broad scope, but with greater geographic diversity. It will also feature articles on program implementation and provider education, making it attractive to authors involved in delivering action plans to reduce the emergence and cross-transmission of antimicrobial resistant organisms.

Gonzalo Bearman, MD, MPH, chair of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Virginia Commonwealth University, is the new journal’s Editor-in Chief. He said: “Our primary goal in the next year is to establish a top-level editorial team to review and seek the highest quality original research, reviews, commentaries and diversity of views and representation in our field.

“Ultimately, we aim to build ASHE to be the premier and most innovative open access journal in the fields of infection prevention, healthcare epidemiology, and antimicrobial stewardship to promote safe healthcare for all. With the SHEA and Cambridge teams, we have set clear goals in terms of the number and diversity of submissions, a rapid time to first decision, and the reach of our articles.”

ASHE will begin accepting submissions on Friday, 12 March and all articles will be published under a Creative Commons license, enabling research to be freely communicated while ensuring copyright remains with the author. The journal will be freely available to anyone with an internet connection, anywhere in the world.

Ella Colvin, Director of Publishing for the Press’s academic journals, said: “This new journal offers the chance to publish research that will advance the safety and efficacy of healthcare around the world. Many of its authors will be directly involved in work to optimise the use of antibiotics and other antimicrobial stewardship initiatives.