Building on firm foundations

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This is the last edition of the Australian Occupational Therapy Journal under the editorship of Esther May. I thank her for the significant contribution she has made in further developing the Journal to its current high standard and status. In preparing this editorial I decided to browse through past editions of the Journal to look at the changes that have occurred since it was last edited in Victoria. This was in 1977 when Maree Groom was appointed editor. Maree and the editorial committee introduced a new look – glossy pages and professional layout. The contents included topics and issues by many authors who are still regular contributors today. Most of the articles were descriptive rather than academic or research based, including topics relating to education programs, self-help groups and challenges to the profession. However, change was afoot, as documented in an article entitled ‘Occupational therapy journals: The state of the art’ (Ziviani, Behan & Rodger, 1984). This article reviewed contents pages of the Australian, British and American occupational therapy journals over 12 years and noted that journal content mainly related to physical, professional, paediatric and psychiatric issues. The authors were most frequently occupational therapy clinicians; however, in the late 1970s there was an increase in the number of academic authors. Both the British Journal of Occupational Therapy and the American Journal of Occupational Therapy showed a greater increase in research articles over the period than the Australian Occupational Therapy Journal. In 1990, the new larger A4 format Journal was introduced with the editorial ‘A new year, a new decade and a new looking journal’ (Bell, 1990). The editorial stated that the larger size was selected to enable the publication of more manuscripts: they also had a backlog! This edition contained descriptive articles on quality assurance, splinting and the theory of occupation, and a series of more academic articles. It also included a Clinical Perspective section which in this issue looked at the changing services at Repatriation General Hospital, Heidelberg, Victoria (MacDonald et al., 1990). I believe that a professional journal is the flagship for a profession, providing both international status and a measure of the current standards practised. It is essential for the Journal to both be highly regarded by the academic community and be valued by practitioners in the field of occupational therapy. Anecdotal evidence suggests that we should again give more opportunity for the publication of descriptive manuscripts with the aim of receiving submissions from those busy clinicians who are not undertaking research, but do have something very worthwhile and valuable to submit. This proposal will be discussed further with the Editorial Board. With the launching of the Accredited OT Program and the importance of continuing professional development as a key component, it is anticipated that our Journal will take on increased significance and provide greater value to the careers of all occupational therapists. I encourage you all to read your Journal, contribute in the form of articles and letters, and let us know how you would like to see the Journal develop. I concur with Betty Hasselkus, who stated in her first editorial for the American Journal of Occupational Therapy, that her goal was to feel a strong sense of connection between the journal and the occupational therapy profession (Hasselkus, 1998).