Editorial: The More Things Change, the More They Are the Same (2003)

THIS ISSUE MARKS THE CLOSE of our fifth year publishing Journal of Allied Health. These years have been a period of significant growth for Journal. The Editorial Board has seen changes, number of peer reviewers has grown considerably, Journal is available to a worldwide audience through new electronic format, international submissions have increased and, most importantly, number of high-quality submissions has increased exponentially. However, as we embark on our sixth year, there have been other changes. First, I'm sad to inform you that Mary Mullison, Assistant to Editor of Journal, has decided to accept another position so that she can work closer to home. Mary has been with Journal since it came to Jefferson. She has been an indispensable part of operation, setting up infrastructure, monitoring flow of manuscripts, and communicating with our reviewers and authors. We will miss her expertise and her charm. As of this writing, a replacement has not yet been named. Second, as many of you know, we now have a new publisher. Hanley and Belfus, who have been with us from start, were purchased by Elsevier Publishers. As a result, a decision was reached to go in a new direction. Michael Bokulich, Editor/Publisher of Science and Medicine, has been selected as new publisher of Journal. Hopefully, adage, the more things change, more they are same, will apply to next five years. I would like to thank Hanley and Belfus for excellent support and leadership that they have given Journal over past five years. Particular thanks go to Sandy Lovegrove. Sandy, who retired a couple of years ago, was instrumental in setting particularly high standards for writing in Journal. We continue to wish her well in her retirement. We would also like to thank Bill Lamsback, who took up slack upon Sandy's retirement, and Linda Belfus for her constant support and for her recommendation for our new publisher. The increased exposure we have received in international community through our Editorial Board members, peer reviewers, and now electronic format of Journal provides us with an opportunity to attract more manuscripts with an international perspective. Dr. Laurie Sherwen, Dean at Hunter College and a member of Editorial Board, has been coordinating effort to develop a more visible international perspective for Journal. We will keep you informed of progress of this effort. Finally, as mentioned in my last editorial, because of large number of manuscripts and need to get accepted manuscripts into print in a reasonable time with limited space, I am asking potential authors and reviewers to pay more attention to recommended page length of manuscripts. We recommend 12 double-spaced pages in manuscript submissions unless there is a compelling reason for it to be longer. In this issue there are articles on a number of timely subjects. A major focus of content is on student learning, particularly on experiences designed to improve way that they will practice after graduation. We also present discussion of responsibilities of those in leadership positions and on very important topic of student recruitment. Student recruitment has been a major issue facing almost all of schools of allied health over past few years. Baldwin and Agho present results of a study of over 1,800 students currently enrolled in six allied health disciplines to determine which source of information most affected their decision to enroll in an allied health program. They found that information received from practicing professionals was most important influence in this decision. The researchers also claim that most students make up their mind at an earlier age than many expected. …