Journal Activities
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1998 has been
a busy year at the Journal. Those who read only the paper edition may not have noticed many changes, but users of our website will know that our presence in cyberspace is expanding apace. Selected highlights appear from each issue (www.mja.com.au), and readers can use our email notification service to keep up to date with their specific areas of interest. Clinical guidelines are becoming more and more important in these days of evidence-based medicine and information overload - our online collection is growing slowly and covers such diverse topics as paediatric advanced life support, osteoporosis and chronic fatigue syndrome. We have also republished our MJA Practice Essentials Mental Health series in two formats: as a book and as an online Mental Health Information Centre (with extra summaries, "frequently asked questions" and links to other useful sites). Mental health is the third book, after Dermatology and Rheumatology, in the MJA Practice Essentials series. These books are written for the non-specialist and are full of practical, rather than textbook-style, information. The Busselton study is another book we have published this year - a distillation of 30 years of epidemiological data about the cardiovascular and respiratory health of an Australian community, and a unique national resource. The report of the first MJA internet peer review study (in which accepted manuscripts and their reviewers' comments were posted on the web, and further public discussion invited before final print publication) was published in The Lancet in August (Lancet 1998; 352: 441-445). Enthused by the wide acceptance of online review, the broader range of opinions able to be canvassed and the potential for demystification of the editorial process, we have now embarked on a more ambitious study. Readers will soon be able to follow the progress of manuscripts which have had the whole peer review process conducted as an online discussion. | |||
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From 1 July 1997 to 30 June 1998, we received 717 manuscripts and 410 letters. For manuscripts, 41% were accepted (after an average of 108 days), 53% were rejected (after an average of 70 days), and 6% are yet to have decisions made. The Box lists the most popular topics. Our reviewers, and our Content Review Committee, have again put in an extraordinary amount of work assessing manuscripts and letters, for which we are enormously grateful. We acknowledge those who have helped in the past 12 months. We would also like to thank two valued staff members who have moved on: Copyeditor Anna Fried and Editorial Registrar Dr Lauren Arnold (who has just delivered twin boys, and provided further evidence for that mystery contaminant in the water supply that makes AMPCo staff members conceive only male babies!). We hope you enjoy this special Christmas issue, and wish you all the best for the festive season.
Bronwyn Gaut
©MJA 1998 | |||
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Readers may print a single copy for personal use. No further reproduction or distribution of the articles should proceed without the permission of the publisher. For permission, contact the Australasian Medical Publishing Company. Journalists are welcome to write news stories based on what they read here, but should acknowledge their source as "an article published on the Internet by The Medical Journal of Australia <http://www.mja.com.au>". <URL: http://www.mja.com.au/> © 1998 Medical Journal of Australia. We appreciate your comments. | |||