Journal Activities

MJA 1997; 167: 564-566

1997 has been an electric year for the Journal, not least because we are broadening our publishing on the Internet. For the past 18 months we have been publishing our contents list and selected articles from each issue on our Web site. As a Christmas present to our Internet readers, this issue is on the Web in full. Other recent additions to our Web site include the National Consensus Statement on the prevention and management of osteoporosis, and draft guidelines for chronic fatigue syndrome (compiled by a working group convened by the Royal Australasian College of Physicians and now open for review).

The MJA Internet Peer Review Trial finished in July and the results were reported at the International Congress on Biomedical Peer Review and Global Communications in Prague in September. The trial gave interested readers a chance to observe and contribute to the peer-review processes of the journal. We hope the trial report survives its own peer review with another journal! No other medical journal currently has any form of open online peer review, and we intend to return to the experiment in the new year. In the next phase, new manuscripts will be posted to a secure site on the Web, where review will be conducted as an online discussion between the Editor, two commissioned reviewers, the authors and a small "virtual college" of peers. If the article is accepted for publication, it will be rapidly published on the Web for a period of open review before being edited into its final, printable, form.

In the non-electronic Journal, we completed two more of our MJA Practice Essentials series: Rheumatology, and Respiratory Medicine. The first of the series, Dermatology, has now been republished as a book. We also began a new occasional section called Old Drugs -- New Drugs , which aims to encourage rational prescribing (in this era of ever-increasing costs), with updates on the use of common established drugs and profiles on newly released ones. In October, we were part of the Global Theme Issue on Ageing , joining 97 medical journals in 31 countries to address health care problems of the elderly.

Thanks are due, as ever, to all our reviewers. They have given their time for no other reward than the progress of medical science. Those who have helped us in the past year are listed below. We especially thank the Content Review Committee for providing quality control, assisting with difficult decisions and keeping the editorial staff on their toes.

We must also farewell several MJA staff. Dr Bronwen Ross (Assistant Editor) was lured away to the corporate world via a Master of Business Administration; Pauline McLay (Editorial Administrator) retired because of illness; Dr Tania Janusic (Editorial Registrar) is about to head north to work in Aboriginal health; and Marian Borland (Copy Editor) will move into multimedia medical journalism.

From 1 July 1996 to 31 June 1997 (we have altered our usual dates for analysis to minimise incomplete data), we received 713 manuscripts and 455 letters. For manuscripts, 38% were accepted (after an average of 91 days), 55% were rejected (after an average of 57 days) and 6% are yet to have decisions made. The 10 most popular specialties (from a list of 80) are shown in descending order in the Box (excluding articles commissioned for series).

We hope you enjoy this special Christmas double issue.

Best wishes for the festive season.

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