MJA 2010: the end of an era

It’s been an exhausting but productive year here at the MJA. MJA InSight (http://www.mjainsight.com.au), our weekly online newsletter, was launched in July. It has given us the opportunity to spread our wings beyond the confines of the print version of the MJA (and the limitations of the current MJA website) to cover recent medical news and to communicate more directly with our readers. MJA InSight is free for all doctors, medical students and other health practitioners and features news highlights, discussions of the latest research from the MJA and other medical international journals, and invited commentaries on controversial topics. Every second issue of MJA InSight also contains “From the Editor’s desk”, Dr Martin Van Der Weyden’s very popular column from the MJA. The responses to our invitation to “have your say” online demonstrate that we are attracting a diverse and thoughtful readership who are willing to provide their own insights into the discussion topics.

Also in July, we launched MJA Careers — in the centre of the paper journal and available online as an e-mag via the MJA or MJA InSight websites (http://www.mja.com.au/careers). MJA Careers contains Jobsearch (medical job advertisements) and Marketplace (practices for sale, real estate, medical equipment, etc), with feature articles about different specialties, training or practice management. The “Q & A” and “One Day [in the life of . . .]” articles have let us briefly into the lives of some inspiring doctors who do something a little out of the ordinary.

Conflict of interest (actual or potential) is an increasingly common consideration in scholarly publication. It was the main topic of discussion at the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) in April in New Zealand — only the second time this august group, of which the MJA is a member, has convened in the southern hemisphere (the first was hosted by the MJA in Sydney in 2007). The ICMJE now has a long and detailed declaration form (available on our website via our “Advice to authors” page) that must accompany all articles submitted to participating journals. Conflicts of interest are ubiquitous, and not just financial — full disclosure and transparency are essential. When considering what constitutes a conflict of interest, we ask authors and reviewers to consider this quote from the World Association of Medical Editors guidelines: “if my competing interest becomes known to others later, would I feel defensive or would others in the publication process, readers or the public think I was hiding my other interests or could they feel I misled or deceived them?”

This year’s MJA/Wyeth Award of $10 000 for the best published clinical research went to Tanya Bubner and her colleagues from Adelaide for their research about point-of-care testing in general practice (http://www.mja.com.au/public/issues/193_05_060910/awards_mja_fm.html). The Ross Ingram Memorial Essay Competition prize of $5000 for an essay by an Indigenous author that promotes health gains and health equity for Australia’s Indigenous peoples went to Jane Harrison, a Melbourne Aboriginal Research Officer, for “Healing our communities, healing ourselves” (http://www.mja.com.au/public/issues/193_05_060910/awards_rossingram_fm.html). These prizes are awarded in May each year so potential entrants should be making submission an urgent priority.

Unfortunately, each year some of our highly valued staff move on. This year, we have “lost” Dr Kerrie Lawson, Senior Assistant Editor, to freelance work and a more balanced lifestyle, and Dr Alison Williams, Deputy Editor (and previously a Kincaid-Smith Editorial Fellow), who is relocating interstate. At the end of this year, we will also farewell Dr Ann Gregory, Deputy Editor and MJA veteran of 12 years, to family commitments and the world of art. Ann brought to her work at the Journal a wealth of experience in medical publishing, a powerhouse of ideas, a fierce and free-ranging intellect, and an uncanny ability to pull rabbits out of hats! And, at the end of January next year, our Editor of 15 years, Martin Van Der Weyden, will be retiring, although he will continue his association with the MJA as Editor Emeritus. Martin has been many things to the MJA: in his own words, he has “ensured the Journal has evolved to become more relevant to the readership and to health reform”; in our words and those of many of you who know him well, he is provocative, quirky, blunt, challenging, entertaining, but always an extremely astute judge of character and quality. Dr Annette Katelaris, a Sydney general practitioner and previous Medical Editor of magazine, has been appointed to succeed Martin.