Harm Reduction Journal is an Open Access, peer-reviewed, online journal whose focus is on the prevalent patterns of psychoactive drug use, the public policies meant to control them, and the search for effective methods of reducing the adverse medical, public health, and social consequences associated with both drugs and drug policies. We define 'harm reduction' as 'policies and programs which aim to reduce the health, social, and economic costs of legal and illegal psychoactive drug use without necessarily reducing drug consumption'.

We are especially interested in studies of the evolving patterns of drug use around the world, their implications for the spread of HIV/AIDS and other blood-borne pathogens, and in accurate descriptions and rigorous evaluations of innovative policies and practices for harm reduction in diverse societies. HRJ also seeks to improve the access to authoritative and current harm reduction literature for health professionals and policy specialists in the non-English speaking world, by offering access to translations of published articles, and their data sets.

While there are many fine print journals already published on the drug issue, the Open Access journal HRJ is the first to focus exclusively on this public health model and to make contemporary research on harm reduction freely available online - as well as providing full access to the large body of factual reports and policy documents published by governments and by the growing international network of harm reduction organizations.