EDITORIAL • Mater Sociomed. 2017 Mar; 29(1): 4-7 Ten Steps to Improve Quality of the Journal Materia Socio-Medica 4 DOI: 10.5455/msm.2017.29.4-7 Received: 23 February 2017; Accepted: 10 March 2017 EDITORIAL Mater Sociomed. 2017 Mar; 29(1): 4-7 © 2017 Doncho M. Donev, Izet Masic This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by- nc/4.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Ten Steps to Improve Quality of the Journal Materia Socio-Medica Doncho M. Donev 1 , Izet Masic 2 ABSTRACT Introduction and aim: Materia Socio-Medica is one of the oldest public health journals in Europe, es- tablished in 1978, and among the most important journals for public health in South-Eastern Europe. The Journal covers all important public health professional, academic and research areas in this field. The aim of the paper is to analyze the journal articles and statistical facts in 2016 and to point out the directions for action and planned further activities for improving the quality of the published papers and visibility of the journal. Methods: Review and analysis of documentation and pro- duction of the journal, evidence of submitted and rejected manuscripts and published papers in 2016. Results: Total number of 111 articles was published in Materia Socio-Medica during 2016. The most of them were original articles (64,5%). Articles from the fields of Health promotion and prevention were predominant (82,7%), which is one of the primary scope of the journal. Authors of the published articles in 2016 are dispersed to three continents (Europe, Asia and North America) and 15 different countries. The largest number of articles was submitted by authors from the country of origin of the journal, Bosnia and Herzegovina. The acceptance rate of Materia Socioi-Medica in 2016 was 35.7%. Total number of 116 reviewers par- ticipated in the manuscript review process in 2016. Conclusion: Materia Socio-Medica will continue to improve the quality of the published papers in 2017 and beyond through education of potential authors, reviewers and Editorial Board members, quality selection of reviewers, supportive editing of articles, and clearly defining instructions and ethical standards of the journal. Keywords: Materia Socio-Medica, PMC, activi- ties in 2016, open access, publishing ethics and integrity. 1. INTRODUCTION The journal “Materia Socio Medica” was estab- lished by the Society of Social Medicine of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2000. Previously it was oicial journal of the Yugoslav Association of Societies of Social Medicine with title Materia Socio-Medica Yugoslavica, established in 1978. Printing of the journal stopped in 1991, when the wartime in former Yugoslavia began. The irst Editor-in-Chief was Dr. Arif Smajkic, professor of Social medicine at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Editorial Board was con- sisted with very famous and important scientists and academics from all universities in former Yugoslavia. During his managing of the Editorial Board approximately 800 papers were published in Materia Socio-Medica. From 2000 the name of the journal has been changed to Materia Socio-Medica and Editor-in- Chief became Prof. Izet Masic, MD, PhD, serving till 2016. From the year 2009 Materia Socio-Medica has been accepted as an oicial journal of the Academy of Medical Sciences of Bosnia and Her- zegovina (1). 2. AIM The aim of this editorial is to analyze journal articles and statistical facts in 2016 and to point out the directions for action and planned further activities for improving the quality of the pub- lished papers and visibility of the journal. 3. METHODS Review and analysis of documentation for pro- duction of the journal and evidence of submitted and rejected manuscripts and published papers in 2016, as well as the structure of the published articles sorted by numerous variables, and other speciics in the development of the journal. 1 Institute of Social Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University “Ss Cyril and Methodius” Skopje, Republic of Macedonia 2 Faculty of Medicine, University of Sarajevo, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina Coresponding author: Prof. Dr. Doncho Donev, Institute of Social Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University “Ss Cyril and Methodius”, 50 Divizia 6, MKD Skopje, Republic of Macedonia. ORCID ID: http://orcid. org/0000-0002-5237- 443X Phone: +389 2 3298580 Mob: +389 70 244760 E-mail: dmdonev@gmail.com