Research
Makerere Revives Scholarly Publishing through Journal Editors’ Workshop to Boost Global Rankings
By Moses Lutaaya
Makerere University has stepped up efforts to strengthen its scholarly publishing ecosystem following a Journal Editors’ Workshop held on April 23, 2026, in the Smart Room, College of Humanities and Social Sciences (CHUSS), aimed at improving journal quality, increasing research visibility, and enhancing the university’s global rankings.
The workshop, organized by Makerere University Press (Mak Press), brought together journal editors from colleges, schools, and institutes across the university to discuss publication standards, consistency in journal production, international indexing requirements, governance, and sustainability of academic journals.
Speaking at the event on behalf of the Deputy Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, Prof. Julius Kikooma, Director of Graduate Training (DGT) and Chairperson of the Technical and Quality Assurance Committee of Mak Press, said the workshop forms part of the university’s deliberate strategy to restore Makerere’s historic place as a continental hub of intellectual production.
He said Makerere had long been recognized as Africa’s leading center for scholarship, especially in the post-independence period when renowned academics and political intellectuals across the continent sought to publish their work through the university.
“Makerere was once the place where Africa’s leading scholars wanted to publish. We are now working to revive that tradition by ensuring our home-based journals meet international standards and become the first choice for our researchers,” Prof. Kikooma said.
He noted that although the university continues to produce world-class researchers, much of their best work is published outside Makerere, benefiting external institutions in rankings and global visibility.
“Management has realized that there has been a missed opportunity. The research is done here, the scholars are nurtured here, but the visibility and ranking benefits have often gone elsewhere because we lacked strong publishing outlets of our own,” he said.
Prof. Kikooma emphasized that global university rankings heavily depend on publications in indexed journals, making the strengthening of Makerere’s home-based journals critical to its ambition of becoming a truly research-led institution.
He also pointed to mindset as one of the biggest barriers. “Many academics have been inducted into believing that their best ideas are not for home consumption. We must change that mindset and build confidence in our own journals because strong societies use their own research outputs to solve real problems,” he added.
He further encouraged journal editors to make publications more responsive to society by introducing special issues that address pressing national and regional challenges.
Prof. William Tayeebwa, the Chief Managing Editor of Makerere University Press, said the workshop was intended to assess the progress of journals across colleges while equipping editors with the tools needed to meet international publishing standards.
“Our main goal was to engage editors on whether they are producing journals consistently. If they say they are biannual, are they really publishing twice a year? If not, they need to make realistic decisions and strengthen their workflow,” he said.
He explained that the workshop brought together editors from established journals, newly formed journals, and colleges that are yet to establish journals.
Prof. Tayeebwa revealed that one of the major gaps identified was that some colleges still do not have academic journals.
“Why would an entire college not have a journal? That was one of the major concerns. We are engaging prolific scholars in those colleges to understand what is holding them back,” he said.
He also noted that many journal editors were depending on Mak Press for support that should ordinarily come from their colleges, prompting the need for stronger institutional buy-in and sustainability mechanisms.
Mak Press, he said, is helping journals secure International Standard Serial Numbers (ISSN), assign Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs), and prepare for international indexing.
He described ISSN as a critical identifier for journals. “If a journal does not have an ISSN, it cannot be discovered online and may not even be recognized by quality assurance systems. It is like a vehicle without a registration number plate,” he explained.
Prof. Tayeebwa said while research quality at Makerere is already strong, the university must significantly improve publication output.
“For a university of this size, publishing only a few dozen articles annually is not enough. With over 600 PhD students, master’s students, and staff, Makerere should be producing more than 1,000 journal articles every year,” he said.
He also called for stronger support for graduate students to co-publish with supervisors, noting that publication is already a graduation requirement for PhD students.
The Director, Institute of Gender and Development Studies Prof. Ruth Nsibirano, said the workshop demonstrates the university’s commitment to ensuring that knowledge generated at Makerere reaches the global academic community.
Her institute is currently developing the Makerere Gender and Development Journal, with its inaugural issue expected in early 2027.
“We do not believe the Global South should remain only consumers of knowledge. We have a lot of knowledge to generate and share with the world,” Prof. Nsibirano said.
She explained that the journal will focus on gender, social transformation, and development while providing a platform for research that reflects African realities and perspectives.
According to Prof. Nsibirano, the workshop also promotes collaboration among scholars across disciplines.
“It improves the way we interact as scholars. We can co-publish, co-author, and also know what is being published in other journals under Makerere Press. That strengthens research and institutional visibility,” she said.
She added that the main challenge affecting many journals had not necessarily been structural gaps, but reduced motivation, which caused some long-established journals to become dormant.
With renewed management support, stronger editorial coordination, and a push for international standards, Makerere University leaders believe the institution’s journals can once again become leading platforms for African scholarship and significantly contribute to the university’s competitiveness on the global stage.
Uganda’s latest national HIV survey reveals lower viral suppression among adolescents and young adults living with HIV than among older adults, even as the country records substantial improvements in controlling the virus. The findings come from Uganda Population-Based HIV Impact Assessment (UPHIA 2025), a national household survey examining HIV prevalence and whether people living with the virus know their status, receive treatment, and achieve viral suppression.
Releasing the preliminary UPHIA 2025 findings at the Uganda Media Centre on 1 October 2026, Minister of Health Hon. Dr. Chris Baryomunsi called for earlier prevention and testing, particularly among adolescent girls and young women, alongside support for treatment adherence. “We must reach out to the young people, ensure that they have information, they test, take treatment, and adhere to the treatment guidance,” he urged.
Hon. Baryomunsi recalled how fear had discouraged testing during his university years: “I remember when we were at university, we went for testing at the university hospital. We sat there for three hours. Some of us left without even testing because it was scary.” Today, he explained, “even if you test HIV positive, you can be initiated on treatment, and you live normally like the rest of those who don’t have HIV.”
UPHIA 2025 was locally led under the Ministry of Health’s overall leadership, with Makerere University School of Public Health serving as the prime implementer, a role ICAP at Columbia University held in the previous two surveys. The Uganda Bureau of Statistics led sampling, while the Uganda Virus Research Institute and National Health Laboratory and Diagnostic Services led laboratory operations. Regional referral hospitals and local governments supported implementation, and the U.S. government provided US$10 million through PEPFAR, along with technical assistance from the U.S. CDC.
UPHIA collected data from July to September 2025 among people aged 15 and above, including those outside routine treatment services. Of 6,283 eligible households, 94.4% completed interviews. Researchers interviewed 13,801 people and tested 13,477 for HIV.
Testing followed Uganda’s national algorithm, with laboratory confirmation of positive samples, viral-load measurement, and checks for antiretroviral medicines to establish treatment use. Researchers weighted the estimates to account for the sampling design. Participants received counselling and results, and those who tested positive were referred for treatment.
Hon. Baryomunsi thanked participants and their families for welcoming survey staff and contributing their time, information and samples, without which the national evidence would not have been available.
National progress and the youth gap
The survey estimated HIV prevalence, which means the proportion of people living with HIV, at 5.9% among those aged 15 and above, corresponding to about 1.496 million people in this age group nationwide. Prevalence was 7.3% among women and 4.1% among men, ranging from 1.3% in Karamoja to 8% in the South Western region.
Among people aged 15 and above living with HIV, 86% had achieved viral suppression, meaning a low amount of HIV in the blood, measured in UPHIA as fewer than 1,000 copies per millilitre. Suppression stood at 69.3% among adolescents and young adults aged 15–24 living with HIV, compared with 89.9% among those aged 50 and above. These estimates cover people living with HIV regardless of whether they know their status or receive treatment.
HIV prevalence among people aged 15–24 was 1.5%, including 2% among young women and 1% among young men. Among young women, prevalence was 1.3% at ages 15–19 and 2.8% at ages 20–24. These differences support attention to earlier prevention and testing, although they do not establish when infections occurred.
The highest prevalence estimates occurred among middle-aged adults: 15.7% among women aged 40–44 and 11.7% among men aged 45–49. Lower suppression among young people therefore requires attention alongside the higher HIV prevalence among middle-aged adults. Comparing the same age group across both surveys, viral suppression among people aged 15–64 increased from 74.9% in 2020–21 to 86.1% in 2025, while HIV prevalence remained at 5.9%.
Diagnosis and the path to 2030
The treatment results identify diagnosis as the main national gap. Among people aged 15 and above living with HIV, 85.3% knew their status. Of those aware, 99.1% were receiving treatment; among those receiving treatment, 96.5% had achieved suppression.
The 95-95-95 targets aimed for 95% of people living with HIV to know their status, 95% of those diagnosed to receive treatment, and 95% of those receiving treatment to achieve viral suppression by 2025. Among people aged 15 and above, Uganda exceeded the treatment and suppression targets, while diagnosis remained below target. UNAIDS’s Global AIDS Strategy 2026–2031 retains these targets towards ending AIDS as a public health threat by 2030.
According to WHO, viral suppression protects health and helps prevent HIV transmission. Uncontrolled HIV weakens the immune system, increasing the risk of serious illness. With continued treatment as prescribed, sexual transmission risk is negligible when HIV remains suppressed but detectable, and zero when undetectable. The Uganda AIDS Commission estimated over 34,000 new HIV infections in 2025, underscoring the importance of early diagnosis, timely treatment, and sustained suppression alongside other prevention measures.
The demographic stakes are substantial. People aged 15–24 constituted 21.2% of Uganda’s population in the 2024 census. The country’s Fourth National Development Plan, covering 2025–2030, prioritises a healthy, knowledgeable, skilled and productive population and reducing HIV through primary health care. Protecting young people’s health, therefore, supports their participation in education, work, and national development; UPHIA helps identify where services need greater attention.
Turning evidence into action
The study’s conclusions identify three priorities: sustain treatment outcomes, find people unaware of their status, and improve suppression among younger people. Permanent Secretary Dr. Diana Atwine connected the findings to the Ministry’s planning.
“We do believe that these results are a true reflection of what is happening in our country as far as the HIV status is concerned, and we do believe that it will give us a very clear direction and the roadmap that we are going to take in the next five years to target and to get our targets achieved.”
Acting on these priorities requires funding for services and research. Hon. Baryomunsi outlined plans to target resources where needs are greatest, strengthen district services and align partner support with government priorities. Responding to journalists’ questions, he noted the government’s intention to increase domestic funding for the HIV response, including research.
“The HIV/AIDS response, including research and surveys such as this one, has largely been funded by partners in the past. The government of Uganda is committed to allocating more resources from our domestic budget to support the response and research,” he noted.
For the first time in the UPHIA series, the survey assessed selected noncommunicable disease indicators among people aged 15 and above: 15.5% had elevated blood pressure, 24.8% were overweight or obese, and 0.9% had raised random blood glucose. These screening findings align with the Ministry’s integration agenda and Hon. Baryomunsi’s call to bring HIV and chronic care services together to address people’s wider health needs.
Speaking at the release of the preliminary results, U.S. Embassy Chargé d’Affaires Mikael (Mika) Cleverley described UPHIA 2025 as the first Population-Based HIV Impact Assessment worldwide fully led and implemented by the country itself.
“The study was led by Ugandan scientists, Ugandan managers, Ugandan public servants, Ugandan field teams, from design to data collection to analysis. And this is what two decades of focused strategic U.S. foreign investments in the public health sector was meant to produce, is to reinforce Ugandan leadership and Ugandan-led efforts.”
At the survey launch on 29 May 2025, MakSPH Dean Prof. Rhoda Wanyenze highlighted the partnership’s contribution: “The partnership between Makerere University and CDC has not only helped build national capacity in surveillance and epidemiology, but has also strengthened our ability to lead high-quality, large-scale national surveys.”
The Dean added: “After two decades of joint work, we are proud that UPHIA is now a fully Ugandan-led effort. This is critical to the sustainability of the skills and knowledge generation to inform our local response.”
UPHIA 2025 shows how far Uganda’s HIV response has advanced and where gaps remain. As the country works towards ending AIDS as a public health threat by 2030, reaching young people with testing, treatment, and continued care will be essential to extending those gains.
Read the full UPHIA 2025 summary results here:
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