Concept
The German Society of Midwifery Science (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Hebammenwissenschaft e.V.; DGHWi) makes the original articles of the print edition freely available online in GMS Zeitschrift für Hebammenwissenschaft (GMS Journal of Midwifery Science).
The print edition appears twice a year and is free of charge for members. In addition to original articles on theory, research or subjects relevant to practice, official position statements of the Society, based on evidence, are printed. The abstracts of Cochrane Reviews relevant to midwives’ health-related care are translated in cooperation with the German Cochrane Centre (Deutsches Cochrane Zentrum; DCZ) in Freiburg and published in this journal and on the DCZ homepage. Reports on the work of the board and the society's sections give an impression of the goal-oriented and strategic work of the society. The Young Forum rubric is a forum for the publication of abstracts or short articles based on Bachelor or Master’s Theses.
Strategic goals achieved by the publication of the journal:
- Through the fulfilment of quality assurance standards (peer review) in the acceptance and publication process, German-speaking authors can publish their scientific papers and thus demonstrate the quality of their work.
- Results generated by research for a Master’s thesis, PhD, habilitation or research project in other contexts which are relevant for midwifery practice in Germany, Austria and Switzerland are disseminated.
- Through publication in a German-language scientific journal, relevant midwifery research is also made available to those midwives not familiar with English terminology.
- Original articles of the Journal of Midwifery Science (Zeitschrift für Hebammenwissenschaft) are replicated online free of charge via GMS in a special open access edition.
The published articles have been through a double blind peer review process, in which both authors and reviewers are anonymous. The review process (for more information see the section ‘For authors’) serves the quality assurance and promotion of our young research discipline, as peers comment on and review the submitted work. The review board consists of scientists from midwifery and neighbouring specialties. Articles and papers on basic research, healthcare and application research, education research, reviews and systematic reviews, reports on theory-practice transfer projects, project evaluations and methodologically oriented papers may be submitted.
In the longer term, the journal is to receive an impact factor, a measure for the importance of a journal calculated partly on the basis of the frequency of citation of articles published in that journal. In order to receive an impact factor, the journal needs to be included in the Web of Science, or rather the (Social) Science Citation Index, for which certain requirements must be fulfilled.
Editorial Board
Dr. rer. medic. Gertrud M. Ayerle
Midwife, nurse, Master of Science in Nursing
Halle/Saale, Germany
Elke Mattern M.Sc.
Midwife, family care midwife, Master of Science (Health and Healthcare Science)
Halle/Saale, Germany
Prof. Dr. rer. medic. Rainhild Schäfers
Midwife, Health Care Manager (Grad.)
Bochum, Germany
Prof. Dr. phil. Monika Greening
Midwife, Health Care Manager (Grad.)
Mainz, Germany
Ulrike Geppert-Orthofer M.Sc.
Midwife, Master of Science (General Management)
Freiburg, Germany
