The journal Health and Human Rights (HHR) this month has published its first open-access edition. Volume 10, Issue 1 will continue to appear in print, and is still published by the François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights (FXB Center) at the Harvard School of Public Health. Paul Farmer, the Maude and Lillian Presley Professor of Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School, will serve as the new editor-in-chief of the journal.
The journal was previously available only in print, and only by subscription. It is now free to access and aligns itself with a global movement for the democratisation of scientific knowledge production. The move follows the desire expressed by a group of Harvard-affiliated health practitioners including Farmer for free access to health information, a step they say will save lives and more democratically communicate an emerging wealth of scientific knowledge.
The journal has been published for more than a decade as a forum of debate on global health and rights concerns. The new HHR provides an inclusive forum for action-oriented dialogue among human rights practitioners. It endeavors to increase access to human rights knowledge in the health field by linking an expanded community of readers and contributors.
The journal includes two sections: 'Critical Concepts' and 'Health and Human Rights in Practice.' Critical Concepts focuses rigorous scholarly analysis on the conceptual foundations and challenges of rights discourse and action in relation to health. The Practice section seeks to bring new voices to this kind of venue by highlighting the innovative work of groups and individuals in direct engagement with human rights struggles. Complementary and mutually reinforcing, these two sections will seek to foster engaged scholarship and reflective activism.
HRR will be published twice a year, with a goal to move to a more frequent publication schedule over time.
