School of Social and Political Science

University of Edinburgh hosts first open-access medical anthropology journal



Sub head

The Medicine Anthropology Theory (MAT) journal, funded in 2013 by scholars at the University of Amsterdam, has migrated to Edinburgh in 2020. Edited by colleagues in the School of Social and Political Science (SPS), MAT is the first journal in medical anthropology to provide permanent and free online access to its content.

Content

MAT is edited by an academic collective based in the Edinburgh Centre for Medical Anthropology (EdCMA) at SPS, with Cristina Moreno Lozano - a PhD student at SPS - as its Managing Editor.

The journal posts scholarly articles, position pieces, photo essays, review essays and field notes from the field, related to:

  • medical anthropology
  • the anthropology of biomedicine
  • critical global health studies
  • medical humanities
  • science and technology studies

Alice Street, one of the members of the editorial collective and a senior lecturer at SPS, said:

“MAT aims to provide timely access to original research; generate new thinking about the relationships between society and medicine; and publish experimental, accessible, and engaging academic content that pushes the frontiers of academic writing.

“It is committed to open access publishing as the best means of ensuring that academic debates are inclusive and open to new ideas and that important research reaches the broadest possible international readership across disciplines and publics.”

Read the latest issue of the Medicine Anthropology Theory journal here.

Open access

The journal is hosted by the Edinburgh University Library, which uses Open Journal Systems (OJS) to support the publication of academic and student-led Open Access journals.

Following an Open Access model means that journals can be read by anyone, without price barriers. It also helps foster collaboration within the research community, and allows journals to reach the widest possible audience and increase their visibility, usage and impact.

Cristina said: 

“MAT has been at the forefront of debates around open access publishing in the social sciences and humanities for several years. In a moment in which open access is increasingly becoming considered a valuable model by funders, research communities and publishing houses in all disciplines, all of us at MAT are certain that, in close collaboration with colleagues at Edinburgh University Open Journals, we will be able to continue to advance crucial questions around open access.