Last month Cambridge University Press & Assessment (CUPA) announced the first sponsorship of a question in its innovative Research Directions: One Health journal.

The question: ‘Is there an ideal curriculum and pedagogy to achieve an optimal One Health practitioner capable of contributing to the growing expectations for One Health?‘ was sponsored by the McEachran Institute, based in Canada – the country’s first animal health think tank, dedicated to building the knowledge, partnerships and capacity to ensure animal health and it values to societies and ecosystems are protected in times of unprecedented change.

The interdisciplinary journal Research Directions: One Health was launched earlier this year, with the aim of promoting the concept that ensuring a future for all living things depends on addressing health comprehensively – from the smallest fungi to the largest mammals.

Its core disciplines include biology (including microbiology), ecology, evolution, epidemiology, medicine and veterinary medicine, animal and plant health, population health, ecosystems and planetary health, public health, plant health and animal health, development sciences and socioeconomics, agriculture, and political science and health. Together these made up what is increasingly recognised as an interdisciplinary discipline: One Health.

Contributors to the journal come from a wide science base and global community, including non-traditional science and knowledge sources, with a common understanding and vision for publication in science of health. It is aimed at a specialist and non-specialist readership, and the editorial board encourages participation to ensure an integrated approach that will “soften future agendas and decision-making in science application in economies, industries, development, health, behaviour and other fields of human endeavour”. 

In terms of the sponsorship arrangement, the aim of the Research Directions’ questions is to guide the conversation on what the important research goals are in each research community.

Organisations that believe that answering these questions is essential to the advancement of science and the benefit of our society are being invited to sponsor individual questions –which not only helps finance the article processing charges of authors who are not currently funded or covered by a Cambridge University Press agreement, but also various promotional activities around the specific question and brings the attention of more researchers and other interested parties to the conversation.

Craig Stephen, Executive Director at the McEachran Institute – and a member of the Research Directions: One Health editorial board – explained that the decision to sponsor the question was taken because of the similar values of the two organisations in terms of the way they view the research process – something he describes as “a good marriage”.

He explained: “The question-led approach faces challenges without doubt, in terms of getting people to a different way of thinking – but we believe this way of working will enable researchers in this field to more easily find the information they need because the individual questions will help to form a focussed community in the specific area of One Health.

Craig outlined the benefits to the McEachran Institute, which is in itself a new organisation that needs to develop its profile: “This is a really logical partnership that will help to jump-start what we are trying to do. We achieved charitable status a year ago, so to join up with a journal in an area that we were already working in made perfect sense.

“Personally, I love the concept of the Research Directions journals – so to work alongside them is a win-win for the McEachran Institute. To help develop both of our profiles concurrently, when we are interested in similar things – albeit with slightly different viewpoints – just seemed to be a logical synergy.”

Monica Moniz, Publisher & Programme Manager for Research Directions at Cambridge University Press & Assessment, said: “We are absolutely delighted that the McEachran Institute has decided to become our first sponsor on Research Directions.

“Sponsorship helps us to promote the journal questions and diversify our authorship. Sponsors contribute to activities such as webinars and podcasts, which highlight the questions and the papers that are published in response to them. They also contribute to a fund that allows us to waive, sustainably, article processing charges for authors that are not covered by transformative agreements or currently funded by research grants.”

• For more information on sponsoring a question in a Research Directions journal, click here.

• In a recent post of the Cambridge Core blog site, Professor Richard Kock, Editor-in-Chief of Research Directions: One Health, explained why a broad concept of health and well-being is essential. Read the post here.

• Read more about the McEachran Institute.