About This Journal

The Journal of One Health Systems (JOHS) is a peer-reviewed, open access journal committed to advancing health equity by recognizing pets as integral members of the family. We welcome submissions that align with our four-sector framework and address our core scope: reducing systemic barriers to care, strengthening coordinated human and pet health systems, and promoting One Health solutions. JOHS is fully open access under a CC BY 4.0 license. There are no submission or publication fees for authors.

JOHS is designed for an interdisciplinary audience that includes researchers, clinicians, veterinarians, public health professionals, environmental scientists, and policymakers engaged in One Health initiatives. At the same time, we recognize the importance of making scientific knowledge accessible to the broader public. By including the general public in our readership, we aim to foster understanding of One Health issues beyond academic and professional circles. As applicable, authors should write with scientific rigor while ensuring clarity and context for readers from diverse backgrounds. Where appropriate, articles should include plain-language summaries or explanations of technical concepts to support informed engagement by non-specialist readers. This dual approach reflects our commitment to transparency, ethical communication, and the dissemination of knowledge across sectors and communities.

Publication Schedule

JOHS is a platinum open access, peer-reviewed journal that does not charge submission, review, or publication fees.

The journal will publish through thematic Calls for Papers issued at least twice annually. Each Call for Papers will focus on one or more themes aligned with our four-sector framework. Accepted manuscripts will be published together as thematic issues within a single annual volume. Related articles may also be compiled into additional thematic collections within a volume when appropriate.

Each calendar year constitutes one volume, beginning with Volume 1 (2026).

Articles are categorized under one or more of the following sectors for browsing and display:

Health and Well-Being
Economic and Community Support
Housing, Transportation, and Infrastructure
Education, Policy, and Research

Journal Hosting and Oversight

JOHS is published by the Program for Pet Health Equity (PPHE) at the University of Tennessee and hosted by VOL Journals through the University of Tennessee Libraries. The journal maintains full editorial independence and adheres to the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) Core Practices and the University of Tennessee System Acceptable Use of Information Technology Resources policy.

Mailing Address:
Program for Pet Health Equity
600 Henley Street, Suite 221
Knoxville, TN 37996

Archiving and Discoverability

JOHS is permanently archived and openly accessible via Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange (TRACE), UT’s institutional repository running on the open-source DSpace platform and registered in OpenDOAR and the DuraSpace (Lyrasis) Registry. Items in TRACE are indexed by Google Scholar, Unpaywall, BASE, major search engines, and the library catalog; each record receives a persistent “handle” link and item-level download statistics. The University of Tennessee Libraries mint DOIs for all JOHS articles and preserve complete metadata to support long-term discovery and citation.

Authors are strongly encouraged to include an ORCID iD upon submission. JOHS supports data sharing and prioritizes accessibility in alignment with University Libraries’ guidance on inclusive formats and preservation standards.

Open Access and Licensing

All articles are published open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0). Authors retain copyright and grant the University of Tennessee a non-exclusive right to preserve and distribute content in any format for long-term access and use (excluding resale or paid access). This license permits others to copy, distribute, display, and adapt the work if proper attribution is given and the original authorship is not misrepresented. Articles are freely available to read, download, and share without login or subscription.