About the Journal

Indian Journal of Community Ophthalmology (IJCO) is the official peer-reviewed open-access journal of the Association of Community Ophthalmology of India (ACOIN). 

Aims and Scope

IJCO publishes both solicited and unsolicited articles on clinical/community ophthalmology and research. It publishes all types of manuscripts in the domain of ophthalmology and optometry. The emphasis is on preventive and social aspects of eye health, including but not limited to eye diseases, ocular protection, enhancement of quality of life with relation to visual disorders, early identification, appropriate referral and management of ocular ailments constituting problems of public health importance, and managerial and policy aspects of the same.

Specifically, articles that are deemed important for the advancement of community ophthalmology, especially in areas with limited resources in India and with applications internationally, are given preference. Articles related to visual disability and visual rehabilitation, including low vision aids and tele-ophthalmology for community services, are also included. Surveys, surveillance, qualitative community-based research, and KAP studies fall within the purview of this journal in addition to the routine formats. The journal also aims to create a community-based database for common ophthalmic conditions.

The target readers of the journal include clinical ophthalmologists, community ophthalmologists, specialists in preventive and social medicine, planners/executors of health care programs related to ocular health, and community health care workers. The aim of this journal is to provide an exclusive academic resource dedicated to the domain of community ophthalmology in the South Asian region.

Compliance

IJCO strives to comply to internationally accepted research guidelines and standards - including aligning with the policies and provisions of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), World Association of Medical Editors (WAME), Contributor Role Taxonomy (CRediT), as well as open access policies of the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ).

IJCO follows a stringent quality control process, including having qualified ophthalmologists and public health experts on its editorial board who have experience in the principles and practice of community ophthalmology in the South Asian region. All submissions (except editorials and guest editorials) are subjected to anonymous peer review; the reviewers' panel consists of similarly qualified and experienced experts selected by the editorial board through a rigorous all-round assessment. As a policy, IJCO allows only a limited number of papers to be published by peer reviewers or members of the editorial panel with complete disclosure of conflicts of interest, if any.

Policy for reuse of published material

IJCO is a Libre Open Access journal with no price restrictions - free to submit, access, and cite. Copyright of the articles is retained by the authors; therefore, third parties require permission from the authors to reproduce any content published in the journal, with evidence of the permission submitted as information to the journal. Importantly, such information must bear the physical or digital signature of both the author and the party reproducing the material, with a statement indemnifying IJCO or its editorial board members or members of ACOIN in case of any disputes in the court of law or otherwise.

History

The first flyer of IJCO was released in 2014 by Prof. Dr. Harminder Singh Dua at the national ACOIN conference in Kolkata, India. The first issue of IJCO was released in 2020, published by the Honorary General Secretary of ACOIN, Prof. Dr. Swapan K Samanta, with Prof. Dr. Chandana Chakraborty as its editor-in-chief, with contributions from several ophthalmologists and community physicians. 

IJCO now has more than five years of open access publishing history, with more than ten articles published in each previous issue. IJCO's improved online version was initiated at the ACOIN meeting at the Mid-term Conference of the All India Ophthalmological Society in 2024 at Dehradun, Uttarakhand, wherein the use of Open Journal Systems' PKP platform was proposed to keep article processing and publication costs under limits. IJCO thus became ACOIN's online journal with Print on Demand (a limited number of copies of each issue printed for institutional subscribers), initiated and managed by our office with the cooperation of our technical partner, M/s Infotech, under its initiative, Hisab systems. This new journal aggregator is expected to take over the entire workflow of IJCO in due course, making article submission, processing, and publication paperless, convenient, and future-ready.