A milestone of change.

Abstract

All organisms, organizations, products, and markets go through life cycles, transitions, and change. The theory of product and organizational life cycles describes that all products and organizations go through a minimum of four stages (introduction or birth, growth, maturity, and decline) during the life of the organization (Cox, 1967; Internet Center for Management and Business Administration, 2015). Some suggest that a significant change in direction or a major retooling in strategy must occur every 7 or 8 years as the organization matures. Without a significant change or transition, most organizations move from the period of maturity to a period of decline leading to financial losses, market penetration by competitors, or simply the end of the organization (Appleyard, Field,C Hill, 2007).This year marks the Health Environments Research & Design (HERD) Journal's 8th year of existence, and our journal is no different than any other organization, product, or organism. A significant change has taken place that will transition HERD to the next plateau of growth and a higher stage of maturity. This issue marks a huge milestone for the journal with a transition from Vendome Group as the publisher for the past 7 years toSAGEPublications.We are grateful toVendome for taking a chance on inaugurating a new journal focused on health care research and evidencebased design, concepts barely recognized by design practitioners and providers 8 years ago. The health care design industry was far more accustomed to magazines with beautiful photographic images of completed projects always including a list of designers, consultants, and contractors. The narratives were replete with complimentary descriptions of project details that often reflected the vision of the design team, but did not discuss the actual realities of the design details or significant outcomes once the facility was in operation.HERD was decidedly different from trade journals from the start. First, this journal was obviously void of the beautiful graphic images, and at least half of the content focused on research on the effect of design features on patient, provider, and organizational outcomes. Second, the HERD journal was one of the first in the industry that was peer reviewed and directed by an interprofessional and international editorial advisory board and review board. Over the past 8 years, HERD has introduced research to a predominantly practice-oriented industry and has disseminated new knowledge from research findings that have served as evidence to guide design decisions in the field.HERDhas been a critical element in the growth of the evidence-based design movement and features two articles per issue that are available for continuing education units needed for evidence-based accreditation and certification and recertification. …