Journal of Health, Population and Nutrition: Critical Review

Journal of Health, Population and Nutrition: Critical Review

🧾 Journal Profile

Title: Journal of Health, Population and Nutrition (JHPN)
Publisher: BMC / Springer Nature
Open Access: Yes (APC-based model)
Indexing: PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, DOAJ
h-index: ~79
Impact Factor (2023): 2.4
Estimated IF (2024): ~2.87
SJR (2024): 0.737
SNIP (2024): 1.045
5-Year IF: 2.7
Categories: Q1 in Food Science, Q2 in Public Health / Epidemiology (Scopus)

✅ Strengths

Global multidisciplinary scope: covers public health, nutrition, maternal/child health, emerging diseases.
Full open access: all articles are freely available.
Fast editorial processing: 21 days to first decision, ~106 days to acceptance.
High visibility: over 800,000 downloads/year; strong altmetric impact.
Alignment with SDGs: >50% of 2024 articles linked to UN Sustainable Development Goals.

❗ Weaknesses

Moderate impact factor: lower than top-tier journals in nutrition/public health.
Single-blind peer review: potential for reviewer bias.
High publication cost: ~$2,790 APC may be a barrier in resource-limited settings.
Thematic restrictions: no longer accepts Mendelian randomization studies.
Editorial ambiguity: historically based in Bangladesh, now UK-based via BMC.

📊 Comparison with Peer Journals

Journal	Est. IF	Access Type	Peer Review Type	General Remarks
JHPN	~2.87	Open Access	Single-blind	Global health scope, LMIC-friendly
Am. J. Clin. Nutrition	~7.0	Subscription	Single-blind	Prestigious, clinical nutrition
Crit. Rev. Food Science & Nutr.	~11	Subscription	Likely single-blind	High-level reviews in food/nutrition
Annual Review of Nutrition	~12.6	Subscription	Expert commission	Influential annual thematic reviews

🎯 Best Suited For

Research with global health relevance.
Public health and nutrition topics, especially in LMIC contexts.
Authors needing open access with relatively fast publication.

🧭 Less Suitable For

Researchers seeking top-tier citation metrics.
Studies in genetic epidemiology (e.g. Mendelian randomization).
Unfunded authors unable to cover APC fees.

✅ Final Verdict

*Journal of Health, Population and Nutrition* is a credible, open-access journal with solid indexing, broad scope, and efficient workflows. While not among the highest-impact venues, it is a strong platform for global health research, especially from underrepresented settings.

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