A Free Training Program for Low and Middle Income Countries (LMIC) to facilitate mentorship, networking, and success in academic publishing.
If you are a scholar, clinician, or researcher from a low or middle income country (LMIC, as defined by the World Bank), and wish to improve your skills in evidence synthesis methods (i.e., conducting systematic reviews, and performing meta-analysis or meta-synthesis), while also gaining access to a network of other scholars, clinicians, and researchers in academic publishing, then this free training program is for you.
This program is a collaboration between the Northeast Institute for Evidence Synthesis and Translation: A JBI Center of Excellence at the Rutgers School of Nursing, and the journal AJPM Focus. This program is made possible by a JBI-funded project entitled “Building Global Capacity for Inclusivity in Academic Publishing: A Collaborative Training Pipeline and Scholarly Pathway”. The program is free of charge for participants from low and middle income countries.
The aim of this program is to:
- Create a training program for health scholars from LMICs to undergo evidence synthesis training and mentorship with support from the Northeast Institute for Evidence Synthesis and Translation: A JBI Center of Excellence.
- Create a structured and guided pathway into academic publishing, facilitated by the journal AJPM Focus.
Benefits to Participants
Free access to the following resources:
- Formal training in JBI systematic review methods,
- Opportunities for mentorship and networking with scholars, clinicians, and researchers in preventive medicine and public health,
- Guided peer review experience in academic publishing, and
- Opportunity to join the editorial board of a reputable international medical journal.
The Program
The training program will include:
- An initial evidence synthesis training, i.e., the Institute for Comprehensive Systematic Review*, which is offered by the Northeast Institute for Evidence Synthesis and Translation at the Rutgers School of Nursing. This training is offered twice a year (i.e., the Spring Institute which takes place during 5 consecutive days in March, and the Summer Institute takes place during 5 consecutive days in July). This free training program will be available to selected LMIC participants between July 2023 and June 2025.
- The Spring and Summer Institutes are offered remotely and synchronously. They are both one-week long and meet from 09.00 to 16.00 (US Eastern Time) Monday through Friday (inclusive). Language of instruction is English. Registration is expected to fill quickly, so early registration is recommended.
In addition to the 5-day Institute, participants will also engage in the following remote learning activities. They will:
- (Within three months of completing the Spring or Summer Institute) Complete the free Elsevier Researcher Academy Certified Reviewer Course (4-hour online training module)
- Participate in one AJPM Focus Editorial Board meeting (2 hours)
- Participate in a peer review activity, as assigned by the AJPM Focus journal, with feedback and guidance from journal editorial board members (2 hours).
- Receive a certificate of program completion and AUD $100 as a thank you upon successful completion of the training program. They may also receive an invitation to serve on the editorial board of AJPM Focus.
The training program is offered at no cost to qualified LMIC participants, courtesy of the JBIC Brighter Futures Grant Program.
Activities in the Training Program (January-June 2024 Cohort). All aspects of this training are free to qualified and selected LMIC participants.
| Activity Type | Activity Description | Spring 2025 Cohort Due Date | Summer 2025 Cohort Due Date |
| Registration for the Institute for Comprehensive Systematic Review | Deadline for participants to register for this cohort in the project | 9 March 2025 | 30 June 2025 |
| JBI Systematic Review training (up to 30 hours during 5-day workshop) | Up to 10 LMIC project participants will complete training from 09:00 to 16:00 US Eastern Daylight time (GMT/UTC-4). Language of instruction is English. More information is available here | Training is March 17-21, 2025; all training activities must be completed by 21 March 2025 | Training is July 14-18, 2025; all training activities must be completed by 18 July 2025 |
| Elsevier Research Academy Certified Reviewer (4-hour online video) | Complete a free Elsevier Researcher Academy training to increase peer review competence. More information is available here | 30 April 2025 | 31 August 2025 |
| Editorial board mentorship pairing | Participants will be paired with a mentor from the AJPM Focus journal editorial board. More information on the editorial is available here. | 31 May 2025 | 30 September 2025 |
| Editorial board meeting participation (up to 2 hours) | Participate in an AJPM Focus journal editorial board meeting | 30 June 2025 | 31 December 2025 |
| Participation in a peer review activity (up to 2 hours) | Complete peer review for 1 AJPM Focus manuscript | 30 June 2025 | 31 December 2025 |
Registration Information
Please complete the applications On the Institute Page