African Journal of Indigenous Medicine and Healing Systems

About the Journal

About

The African Journal of Indigenous Medicine and Healing Systems (AJIMHS) is an international, interdisciplinary, open-access scholarly journal dedicated to the study, documentation, preservation, critical evaluation, and responsible development of indigenous, traditional, and culturally grounded medicine and healing systems.

The journal recognizes that communities across the world have developed diverse systems of knowledge concerning health, illness, healing, wellbeing, medicinal resources, prevention, caregiving, and the relationship between individuals, communities, cultures, and their environments. These knowledge systems represent important areas of historical, cultural, social, scientific, and health research.

AJIMHS provides a scholarly platform for researchers, academics, healthcare professionals, practitioners, indigenous knowledge holders, social scientists, anthropologists, public health professionals, pharmacologists, ethnobotanists, historians, policymakers, and other scholars interested in indigenous and traditional approaches to health and healing.

The journal welcomes rigorous research examining indigenous medical knowledge and healing practices from Africa and other regions of the world. While the journal maintains a distinctive interest in African indigenous medicine and healing traditions, its scope is international and welcomes comparative, cross-cultural, and regionally focused research from diverse geographical and cultural settings.

The journal encourages scholarship that documents indigenous knowledge, investigates traditional healing systems, examines medicinal plants and natural products, explores culturally grounded understandings of health and illness, evaluates safety and effectiveness, examines health-seeking behaviour and community practices, and investigates the relationship between indigenous healing systems and contemporary healthcare.

AJIMHS also recognizes the importance of ethical research involving indigenous communities and knowledge systems. The journal therefore encourages research that respects cultural rights, community participation, intellectual property, knowledge ownership, confidentiality, informed consent, and appropriate benefit-sharing.

The journal does not assume that indigenous or traditional practices are inherently effective or ineffective. Rather, it provides a scholarly environment in which such practices, claims, knowledge systems, experiences, and health outcomes can be examined critically and respectfully using appropriate research methods and evidence.

Through interdisciplinary scholarship, the journal seeks to contribute to the preservation of valuable knowledge, responsible innovation, improved understanding of culturally grounded healthcare, and constructive dialogue between indigenous knowledge systems and contemporary scientific and health disciplines.

Publisher African Alliance for Research, Advocacy and Innovation (AARAI)

Publication Frequency Quarterly

Language English

Abbreviation Afr J Indigenous Med Healing Syst

Areas of Interest

Research Areas

Indigenous Medicine Traditional Medicine Traditional Healing Systems African Indigenous Medicine African Traditional Medicine Indigenous Health Knowledge Ethnobotany Medicinal Plants Herbal Medicine Phytotherapy Phytochemistry Pharmacognosy Natural Products Traditional Pharmacology Traditional Therapeutics Traditional Medicine Safety Toxicology Herb-Drug Interactions Traditional Medicine Quality and Standardisation Indigenous Mental Health Psychosocial Healing Spirituality and Healing Traditional Maternal Health Indigenous Midwifery Traditional Child Health Indigenous Nutrition Medicinal Foods Indigenous Knowledge Systems Indigenous Epistemologies Knowledge Preservation Knowledge Transmission Indigenous Intellectual Property Indigenous Data Sovereignty Traditional Knowledge Rights Benefit-Sharing Ethics of Indigenous Knowledge Research Indigenous Research Methodologies Community-Based Research Ethnographic Research Traditional Medicine Evidence Traditional Medicine Outcomes Public Health Community Health Health-Seeking Behaviour Health Promotion Disease Prevention Healthcare Pluralism Traditional and Biomedical Health Systems Traditional Medicine Policy Traditional Medicine Regulation Health Governance Medicinal Plant Conservation Indigenous Environmental Knowledge Sustainable Traditional Medicine Comparative Healing Systems Global Indigenous Health Cross-Cultural Health Research Decolonisation of Health Knowledge

Accessibility

Open Access

The African Journal of Indigenous Medicine and Healing Systems is committed to the broad dissemination of scholarly knowledge and provides open access to its published research.

Published articles are made freely accessible to readers in support of knowledge sharing, scholarly communication, education, research, and public engagement.

The journal recognizes that open access can contribute to greater visibility and accessibility of research, particularly for scholars, practitioners, communities, students, policymakers, and institutions that may have limited access to subscription-based scholarly literature.

Open access does not reduce the journal’s standards for editorial assessment, peer review, research integrity, or scholarly quality.

The rights of authors and readers are governed by the copyright and licensing conditions applicable to each published work.

Editorial Standards

Peer Review Policy

The African Journal of Indigenous Medicine and Healing Systems is committed to a rigorous, fair, respectful, and academically constructive peer-review process.

All manuscripts undergo an initial editorial assessment to determine their relevance to the journal’s scope, scholarly quality, originality, methodological appropriateness, ethical considerations, and compliance with submission requirements.

Manuscripts that are substantially outside the journal’s scope, incomplete, or unsuitable for scholarly consideration may be declined at the editorial assessment stage.

Manuscripts considered suitable for further consideration may be evaluated by qualified reviewers with appropriate expertise in the subject area.

Reviewers may be asked to assess the originality, significance, theoretical contribution, methodological rigor, evidence base, interpretation of findings, ethical conduct, quality of references, clarity of presentation, and overall scholarly contribution of a manuscript.

Because research involving indigenous communities and traditional knowledge may involve specific cultural, ethical, and intellectual-property considerations, reviewers may also be asked to consider whether the research demonstrates appropriate respect for community rights, informed consent, confidentiality, knowledge ownership, and ethical engagement.

Where appropriate, reviewers may recommend acceptance, minor revision, major revision, or rejection. The final editorial decision remains the responsibility of the journal’s editorial team.

The journal recognizes that different forms of scholarship require different evaluation criteria. Ethnographic studies, qualitative research, clinical or pharmacological studies, systematic reviews, historical studies, conceptual papers, policy analyses, and other contributions may therefore be evaluated according to appropriate disciplinary and methodological standards.

The journal seeks to ensure that peer review is conducted respectfully and does not dismiss indigenous knowledge solely because it differs from dominant biomedical or Western scientific frameworks. At the same time, claims concerning therapeutic effectiveness, safety, causation, or clinical benefit should be supported by appropriate evidence and should not be presented as established facts without adequate justification.

Research Integrity

Publication Ethics

The African Journal of Indigenous Medicine and Healing Systems is committed to high standards of publication ethics, research integrity, responsible scholarship, and respect for individuals and communities.

Authors are responsible for ensuring that their manuscripts represent original work and that all sources, ideas, data, interpretations, and contributions are appropriately acknowledged.

The journal does not tolerate plagiarism, fabrication, falsification, duplicate publication, inappropriate authorship, manipulation of research findings, or other forms of academic misconduct.

Research involving human participants, communities, personal information, biological materials, animals, or culturally sensitive knowledge should comply with applicable ethical requirements and should provide appropriate information concerning ethical approval, consent, confidentiality, and participant or community protection.

Research involving indigenous communities or traditional knowledge requires particular attention to community participation, respect for cultural practices, knowledge ownership, intellectual property, confidentiality, appropriate attribution, and benefit-sharing where applicable.

Authors should avoid presenting indigenous knowledge in ways that misrepresent, exploit, sensationalise, or inappropriately commercialise community knowledge.

Where traditional medicinal practices or products are investigated, authors should distinguish clearly between traditional claims, community experience, observational evidence, experimental evidence, and established clinical evidence.

Authors must disclose relevant funding sources and actual, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest.

The use of artificial intelligence or AI-assisted tools does not remove author responsibility. Authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, integrity, interpretation, citations, references, and final content of their manuscripts. Substantive use of AI-assisted tools should be disclosed where required by journal policy.

The journal may investigate ethical concerns arising before or after publication and may take appropriate corrective action where necessary.

For Authors

Author Guidelines

Authors submitting manuscripts to the African Journal of Indigenous Medicine and Healing Systems should ensure that their submissions are original, appropriately referenced, ethically conducted where applicable, clearly presented, and relevant to the scope of the journal.

Originality

Manuscripts must represent original scholarly work and must not have been previously published in substantially the same form or be simultaneously under consideration by another journal.

Manuscript preparation

Manuscripts should be prepared clearly and professionally and should follow the structure appropriate to the article type.

Authors should ensure that the manuscript contains sufficient information to allow readers and reviewers to understand the research question, methodology, evidence, findings, interpretation, and limitations.

Indigenous and traditional knowledge

Authors conducting research involving indigenous or traditional knowledge should clearly describe the context in which the knowledge was obtained and should demonstrate appropriate attention to ethical engagement with knowledge holders and communities.

Where applicable, manuscripts should address consent, community participation, attribution, confidentiality, intellectual-property considerations, and benefit-sharing.

Authors should avoid revealing culturally sensitive or restricted knowledge where disclosure would be inappropriate or contrary to community expectations or applicable ethical requirements.

Evidence and claims

Authors should distinguish between traditional knowledge or community claims and conclusions supported by empirical evidence.

Claims concerning therapeutic effectiveness, safety, disease treatment, prevention, or clinical benefit should be supported by appropriate evidence and should be presented proportionately to the strength of that evidence.

Medicinal plants and traditional products

Research involving medicinal plants, herbal preparations, traditional formulations, or natural products should provide sufficient information concerning identification, preparation, methodology, analytical procedures, and relevant safety considerations where appropriate.

Research ethics

Where applicable, authors should provide information concerning ethical approval, informed consent, community consent or engagement, participant protection, data confidentiality, and other relevant ethical safeguards.

Authorship

All listed authors should have made appropriate contributions to the work and should have approved the final manuscript.

The corresponding author is responsible for communication with the journal and should ensure that all authors are aware of and agree to the submission.

Indigenous knowledge holders and community contributors should be appropriately acknowledged or included in authorship where their contributions meet accepted authorship criteria.

Funding

Authors must disclose relevant funding sources and describe, where appropriate, the role of funders in the research.

Conflicts of interest

Authors should disclose any actual, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest.

Artificial intelligence

Authors remain fully responsible for manuscripts prepared with the assistance of artificial intelligence or AI-assisted tools.

Authors should verify AI-assisted content carefully, particularly references, factual statements, interpretations, translations, and descriptions of indigenous knowledge.

Where substantive AI assistance has been used, authors should disclose such use in accordance with the journal’s requirements.

References

All sources used in the manuscript should be appropriately cited and included in the reference list. Authors should ensure that citations accurately represent the sources being cited.

Data and materials

Where ethically and legally permissible, authors are encouraged to provide sufficient information concerning datasets, research materials, analytical procedures, and other resources necessary to understand and evaluate the research.

Restrictions arising from confidentiality, cultural protection, intellectual property, privacy, or community rights should be clearly explained where they prevent data sharing.

Peer review