Title: It Takes a Village: The Team Effort Behind The Journal of Chiropractic Education
Abstract: Many positive changes have been realized for The Journal of Chiropractic Education in the past year. We continue to work toward our goal of growing the readership, contributorship, and involvement of individuals from around the world and have witnessed substantial growth in this endeavor. The process of producing a high-quality, peer-reviewed, and indexed journal is complex and many people are involved with the creation of each journal issue and I acknowledge our supporters in this editorial.
The journal was originally self-published by the journal's founding editor, Grace Jacobs. In 1989, the journal became the official journal of the Association of Chiropractic Colleges (ACC) and I am thankful for the leadership and dedication of the ACC in securing an official home for the journal. David O'Bryon and Robyn Patkus at the ACC headquarters have been an immense help in keeping the journal going for many years by providing support with their management activities.
No journal would exist without manuscripts submitted by contributors. I thank the many authors who have considered the journal as a potential place to publish their scholarship during the past year. The journal has witnessed an increase in the number and quality of manuscript submissions this past year and I am pleased to see this positive trend for the journal.
Many reviews of submitted manuscripts are performed by members of our volunteer Editorial Board, but there are an equal number of reviews completed by other volunteers. Overall, reviews have consistently been of high quality and extremely formative. The Editorial Board and additional reviewers for the past year include the following: Barclay Bakkum, James Brantingham, Laura Chadwick, Peter Diakow, John Downes, Andrew Dunn, Phillip Ebrall, Christopher Good, Emile Goubran, Julie-Marthe Grenier, Heidi Haavik-Taylor, Michael Haneline, Cheryl Hawk, Sean Herrin, Claire Johnson, HanSuk Jung, Kim Khauv, Lisa Zaynab Killinger, Anna Livdans-Forret, Marion McGregor, Christopher Meseke, Bill Morgan, John Mrozek, Valerie Nichols, Lotte Dyhrberg O'Neill, Anthony Onorato, Per J. Palmgren, Robert Percuoco, Stephen Perle, Reed Phillips, Ravid Raphael, Randy Swenson, John Taylor, Rodger Tepe, Subra Vemulpad, Bruce Walker, Robert Ward, Michelle Wessely, and Michael Wiles. I am very grateful to them for providing all of their time and expertise that helps guide editorial decisions and ultimately improves the quality of the journal.
I rely upon the Editorial Board members to provide advice and they have served the journal well over the years. This past year I added a number of recognized scholars in chiropractic education to the board to enhance the depth of peer review, to provide sage advice, and to increase the international involvement of the journal. We now have 38 members on the Editorial Board with representation from 11 countries. In addition, it is noteworthy to mention that all three of the previous editors of the journal continue to be actively involved in peer review and providing guidance to me. Thus, the Editorial Board is comprised of new members who bring fresh ideas and infuse new blood into the life of the journal, but the journal is also kept on course with a deep rudder of experience. I was fortunate earlier this year to reconnect with Grace Jacobs, who has provided a great deal of encouragement and wisdom over the past several months, and I am very appreciative of her mentoring spirit.
It is understood that Editorial Board members cannot serve forever. It is important to recognize the many years of service that our board members have provided. One of the longest serving Editorial Board members, Ravid Raphael, retired and, although it was sad to see him leave, I am appreciative of his many years of service to the journal, spanning approximately 20 years. We wish him a happy retirement.
There are several people who work behind the scenes in a number of ways to make the journal available in both print and electronic forms. I thank our publishing team at Data Trace, consisting of Cindy Lee Floyd, Tricia Lige, Patty McCabe-Marcell, Herb Fried, and their team who manage the page setting, printing, and processing of the journal contents for PubMed Central. I would also like to thank Claire Johnson for voluntarily serving the journal as the webmaster for our website www.journalchiroed.com. A group of people who do much for the journal are the team members who serve at PubMed Central. This team has provided us with outstanding support and rapid inclusion of our content into PubMed and I am very appreciative of their stellar service.
Placing the journal in the hands of chiropractic college faculty members is of paramount importance to the mission of the journal. A special note of appreciation goes to the NCMIC Group. Through their generous support the journal is now received by all chiropractic faculties around the globe.
Thus, when a volume of The Journal of Chiropractic Education is produced, it is done so through a team effort of nearly 100 individuals. I am pleased to be part of this team that strives to bring excellence to chiropractic education through publication, review, and service.