Extended submissions deadline: 29 March 2019
Approximate publication date: July 2019
Submissions on website: ajlmonline.org
Pre-submission inquiries about appropriateness or fit: editor@ajlmonline.org

In 2019, the African Journal of Laboratory Medicine (AJLM), ajlmonline.org will publish a special issue devoted to The Future of Diagnostics. This special issue will be co-edited by Professors Timothy Amukele (Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine), Ilesh Jani (Instituto Nacional de Saúde, Maputo, Mozambique) and Rosanna Peeling (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine). The issue aims to highlight recent advances in technology and the landscape for diagnostic innovation. It will emphasise diagnostics for high burden, emerging and neglected communicable and non-communicable diseases, particularly those that threaten or are endemic to the African continent.

AJLM invites submissions to The Future of Diagnostics that will document the promise of diagnostic development and push its boundaries. Suitable papers will include, but are not limited to, articles focused on:

• One or more diagnostic innovations with a disease or technology focus
• Parallel or basic science innovations that could spur or accelerate diagnostic development
• Evasion of existing diagnostic tests or strategies by biological evolution
• New technologies for point-of-care diagnostics (e.g. novel targets, new approaches, new disease foci or multiplex testing)
• Provider and patient responsiveness or market intelligence in diagnostic development
• Laboratories and laboratory systems in the implementation of diagnostic programmes, including human resource development and quality assurance
• Innovations in connectivity, communication and data handling, storage and retrieval that are relevant to diagnostics
• Digital technology that could enhance the value of existing and future diagnostics
• Diagnostic policy and regulation
• Novel diagnostics for antimicrobial resistance
• Accelerating development and deployment of diagnostics as part of epidemic preparedness

AJLM is the African Society for Laboratory Medicine’s peer-review journal. It is open access and does not charge publication fees.

Submission guidelines
Journal article categories and submission guidelines are outlined in the Submission Guidelines. When submitting, authors should select the special issue in the Journal Section drop-down box and note the intended article type e.g. Original Research, Brief Report, in the Comments for the Editor box and in their cover letter.

We look forward to receiving your submissions.

Editor-in-Chief
Iruka N. Okeke