A Mission Statement and a New Idea for the JBJS Open Access Education Channel.

Abstract

I have been given a remarkable privilege. As only the second editor of the AOA Critical Issues in Education channel, I have the opportunity to help shape what this part of JBJS Open Access will look like for years to come. As I start my second year in this role, I would like to share a bit of my vision for this channel: AOA Critical Issues in Education should be the definitive place to publish education research and innovation in orthopaedic surgery. The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery is proud to think of itself as the journal of record for orthopaedic surgery, in both the United States and internationally. There is nothing modest about that statement. Living up to it requires a sustained commitment to attracting the very best articles in the orthopaedic field and improving them through rigorous peer review and editing. This high standard is applied to all journals in the JBJS portfolio, including JBJS Open Access. A large and dedicated team of staff, editors, and thoughtful peer reviewers work together to make it happen. I would particularly like to acknowledge the small-but-growing group of education experts who have served as reviewers over the last year. Thank you for saying “Yes” to my invitations to review. You are what makes this an excellent journal. The JBJS Open Access AOA Critical Issues in Education channel evolved from the Topics in Training section of the JBJS print journal. The expansion to an open access format was intended to allow innovation in the type and variety of articles that JBJS could publish, without sacrificing excellence. This dual mission of excellence and innovation creates a perfect opportunity for this channel to try new things. Here is one new direction in which I would like to take the channel: case reports in surgical education—that is, brief articles describing specific educational initiatives that have been introduced within individual institutions. In this issue of JBJS Open Access, we are proud to present the case report “Orthopaedic Surgery First-Year Resident Surgical Skills Month Curriculum” by Siebler and colleagues. The authors describe with clarity and care their effort to create a bootcamp-style skills program. It is not exactly a new idea—a skills curriculum has been a mandatory part of the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery curriculum for more than a decade. However, JBJS recognizes that, in reality, many institutions may just be getting started with a serious skills program of their own. Although the article by Siebler et al. presents the experience of only a single program, it is useful as an example. Like a clinical case report, it may help to guide other programs that find themselves in a similar situation. I would encourage other submissions like this one. From time to time, we will be happy to publish the best of them.