Health Education Research Vol.20 no.2, © Oxford University Press 2005; All rights reserved
Editorial |
1985–2005: Twenty Years of Excellence
Editor-in-Chief for the Americas
On the platinum anniversary of the pilot issue of Health Education Research, it gives me great pride and humility to assume the position of Executive Editor for the Americas. In the short span of two decades, Health Education Research has become a premier journal in public health, continuing to further its initial mission of using research to advance the theory and practice of health education.
Twenty years ago, Douglas Leathar, the founding editor of Health Education Research, put forward a vision that is as true now as it was two decades ago. He envisioned a journal that would strengthen the rigor of health education research and that would directly inform practice. In his inaugural editorial he said:
"Although the journal is to be published to academic standards, practitioners should be aware that the journal aims for a practical perspective on problems. It is the quality and the relevance of content that matters, not whether material is structured in academic terms. Indeed, the overriding criterion of publication for any article is quite straightforward: will practising health educators gain any real understanding of the processes, rationale or philosophy underlying the health education activities in which they are currently engaged? Or, to state it more simply, "What have I learned from this that will help me in what I do?" If the answer is nothing, then the article is nor for this journal."I consider myself extremely fortunate to be following in the tradition of Douglas Leathar and assuming the role of Executive Editor for the Americas. Health Education Research has never been healthier nor has it had a more promising future. Its "Impact Factor" has been increasing each and every year since 1999, when it was 0.592, to its latest score of 1.358 in 2003 (see Figure 1). "Impact Factors" for journals are like Graduate Record Examination scores for graduate students – imperfect measures but important nonetheless. Health Education Research's current Impact Factor of 1.358 ranks 7th out of 92 among other "Education and Educational Research" journals. In this category, HER's Impact Factor is ranked above those of other prestigious journals such as the Harvard Education Review, AIDS Education and Prevention and the Journal of School Health. Among "Public, Environmental and Occupational Health" journals, HER is ranked 13th out of 56 with a higher Impact Factor than journals such as Psychology and Health, the European Journal of Public Health and our "sister" journal Health Education and Behavior. The Impact Factor is not the only way in which HER is improving. The total number of full-text computer downloads in the first eight months of 2004 nearly doubled those for the entire year of 2003.
|
Not only is the quality and popularity of Health Education Research increasing but so is its efficiency and timeliness. Oxford University Press, our publisher, has recently introduced one technology, Advance Access, which greatly accelerates the time from acceptance to publication and is in the process of implementing another technology, Manuscript Central, which will greatly enhance the ease of submission and the speed of review. Health Education Research's Advance Access (http://her.oupjournals.org/papbyrecent.dtl) allows for rapid electronic publication of accepted and completed manuscripts in a matter of weeks rather than months. For example, one recent article published electronically was accepted on November 26, 2004, revised by the author on December 20, 2004, and published on Health Education Research Advance Access on January 11, 2005. The electronic version is considered to be officially published and is assigned a digital object identifier (doi). Once in Advance Access, the article can be printed, cited and is searchable and accessible from our website http://her.oupjournals.org/ or from Highwire and PubMed.
Just think, accepted in November and fully citable and searchable in January. You may be thinking, "Well, that's great...once accepted, it won't take long to get published, but what about the endless time from submission to acceptance?" This is where our second innovation, Manuscript Central, comes into effect. By the time you read this editorial, Manuscript Central should be fully operational, completely eliminating the need for paper in the manuscript submission, review and decision process. "About time, you say!" Yes, it is about time, and not only will it make it easier for you to submit manuscripts to us, it will make the entire review and decision process more efficient and timely. Manuscripts will be submitted via a dedicated Health Education Research website and will immediately come to my attention. I will assign an Associate Editor for review, who will in turn identify and recruit knowledgeable reviewers. Those who agree to review will receive the manuscript instantaneously. This front-end process will take no more than a few days rather than weeks. Given the electronic system, we plan on giving the reviewers no more than three weeks to review the manuscript and provide a recommendation back to the Editorial Office. All told, we are hoping that Manuscript Central will allow us to reduce the amount of time from submission to an editorial decision from months to weeks. This time saving on the front-end, coupled with Advance Access on the back-end, should allow us to go from submission to publication in months rather than years. Just think of it, not only will those of us in academia be better prepared for promotion and tenure decisions, but also our research may actually be better able to influence the practice of health education and, in our small way, help advance the public health. This may all sound too good to be true, but as the newly appointed Executive Editor for the Americas, I am committed to make this dream a reality and to continue to make Health Education Research the journal of choice for publishing the most significant and cutting-edge research.
This inexorable progress would not have been possible without the devotion and leadership of the previous Executive Editor for the Americas, Jim Sorenson, who has recently retired from his editorial responsibilities. Jim raised the bar for Health Education Research, increasing its visibility, quality and rankings. He will be missed but will continue to be relied upon for advice and guidance. Kate Karriker-Jaffe, the outgoing Managing Editor, also deserves substantial credit for the success of Health Education Research. Kate is currently a doctoral candidate in health education and behavior at the University of North Carolina School of Public Health, and we look forward to Kate quickly joining the ranks or Health Education Research authors. Replacing Kate as Managing Editor is Meredith Madden, an MPH student at the Institute of Public Health at Georgia State University. A University of Georgia graduate, Meredith is interested in anthropology and adolescent health, with a penchant for attention to details.
I am so fortunate to be assuming the editorial reins during a period when the journal has experienced so much success and has so much to look forward to in terms of timeliness and ease of review and submission. I am fully committed to continue to improve HER's Impact Factor and to dramatically shorten the time from submission to publication. The introduction of Manuscript Central on the submission and review end and Advance Access on the electronic publication end has the potential of transforming the time it takes from submission to publication from years to months. My vision for Health Education Research, however, goes beyond increasing its timeliness. Our editorial board has expressed a strong interest in Health Education Research playing a greater leadership role in helping to shape the health promotion research agenda and its impact on practice. One way of doing this is to be more proactive in soliciting timely and strategically important manuscripts rather than rely solely on the submission of high quality but perhaps, narrowly-focused manuscripts. Another way is to have some articles in each issue related to a common theme, similar to the style of the American Journal of Public Health. I would also like to see Health Education Research assume an even greater global presence, particularly in the developing world, and expand our primary manuscript base from beyond the United States, the United Kingdom and Western Europe. Lastly, being a student of Larry Green, I have a broad vision of health education and health promotion and welcome manuscripts addressing the myriad of factors that influence health behavior, as well as the conditions that assure health.
As I begin this journey, I consider myself to be the steward of a public good that is shared by all. I welcome your guidance, suggestions and critiques. Contact me with your thoughts and ideas at her{at}gsu.edu
CiteULike 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us What's this?
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||