2025 Meeting of the Western Pacific Region Index Medicus (WPRIM) Regional Journal Selection Committee

Speakers: James Howlett (WHO)

The Western Pacific Region Index Medicus (WPRIM) is a regional bibliographic index of medical and health journals published by Member States of the World Health Organization (WHO) Western Pacific Region. Developed in collaboration with the Institute of Medical Information, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences (IMICAMS) − a WHO collaborating centre in Beijing − WPRIM has indexed more than 1 million articles from 735 journals since its launch in 2010. WPRIM also contributes to the Global Index Medicus (GIM).
Journal inclusion follows a peer-reviewed selection process overseen by the WPRIM Regional Journal Selection Committee (RJSC), established in 2007, which is composed of journal editors from the Western Pacific.
In support of this, the WHO Western Pacific Regional Office Library convenes WPRIM meetings alongside the annual conference of the Asia Pacific Association of Medical Journal Editors (APAME). The APAME meeting and scientific convention will be held virtually this year on 8 August. These gatherings help monitor regional contributions and enhance access to biomedical literature in low- and middle-income countries.
For 2025, 15 candidate journals from China, the Philippines and the Republic of Korea will be evaluated for indexing, with Cambodia and Malaysia also planning to submit additional titles.
The objectives of the expert consultation are:
(1) to evaluate and approve new journals for inclusion in the WPRIM databases recommended by the relevant country national journal selection committee (NJSC);
(2) to decide on the standard guidelines on the suspension and/or removal of a WPRIM-approved journal, or retraction of an article;
(3) to evaluate and report on the progress of 2024 activities and continued support of related programmes on the sustainability of, and access to, scientific and medical journal publications; and
(4) to propose the creation of a regional network of librarians to advocate on behalf of WPRIM, support sustainability of journal selection committees and provide feedback on its usability from a research perspective.

https://indico.un.org/event/1018518/