Platinum anniversary for official publication.

Abstract

Seventy years ago in January 1945, the first edition of an official Australian occupational therapy publication was launched. Called the Bulletin, it was produced by the recently formed Occupational Therapists’ Club. The Bulletin was ‘circulated to all Club members, including those scattered throughout Australia, informing them on the business of the Club and developments in occupational therapy generally’ (Anderson & Bell, 1988, p. 29). The first year of publication: included reports from New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, Queensland, and South Australia; had the Bulletin sent to the Mitchell Library by the Club for permanent archiving; and saw the Bulletin launched on the international stage when copies were sent by the Club to British and American Occupational Therapy Associations (Anderson & Bell, 1988). We can see the prescience of our founding therapists in that first year of publication. They established settings that have served the profession well for 70 years. The Bulletin was national in scope, international in reach, written by and for occupational therapists, and available to the public and other professions via the Mitchell Library and hospital libraries. In years to come the Bulletin would publish newsletters from World Federation of Occupational Therapy member countries, ensuring Australian occupational therapists were informed members of an international professional community. The Bulletin was renamed the Australian Occupational Therapy Journal in 1963 to keep pace with developments in education, research and professional development. Seventy years later, in January 2015, a quick internet search reveals that the original 1945 Bulletin still exists and is available in the Mitchell Library (State Library of New South Wales, 2015). The survival of that original volume is as remarkable as the longevity of the publication it spawned. Seventy years later the fecundity of that first volume is also apparent as a scan of the Australian Occupational Therapy Journal home page at Wiley.com reveals. Here every volume of the Bulletin and AOTJ from 1952 to the present day is available (earlier volumes and some issues yet to be located). The platinum anniversary is technically in December this year. By then, the ‘Bulletin-Journal’ will have been in production for 70 calendar years. The continuity of the publication is testament to the good will, collaboration and contribution of individual occupational therapists over many years. Occupational therapists have sacrificed time, energy and money to sustain and grow the journal as readers, subscribers, authors, reviewers, editorial board members, editors and professional association sponsors. Since 1945 under various association, editorial and production arrangements, the commitment of Australian occupational therapists to maintaining, developing and enhancing the official publication has never wavered. One group of occupational therapists deserve special acknowledgement: the Editors and Editorial Board members. While their names go down in history on the Journal roll call, this simple recognition belies the scope and scale of their contribution. There is no journal without readers and writers; but it is Editors and Board members who provide the enabling frameworks, standards and judgments to ensure a publication is of high quality. As in-coming Editor-in-Chief I have been privileged to know and/or work with a number of Editors and Editorial teams over many years as author (rejected and accepted), reviewer, Board member and Associate. Each Editor has grasped contemporary challenges, lead significant change and achieved extraordinary outcomes. Each new Editor no doubt feels their forerunner is a ‘hard act to follow’. This is certainly the case for me with Editor Elspeth Froude. In an information rich environment where the ethics, rigor and relevance of professional publications are under constant scrutiny, she has achieved extraordinary outcomes. Operational achievements are reported in a characteristically understated and humble manner in her final Editorial (Froude, 2014). As a national leader over many years Editor Froude has been visionary, collegial, collaborative and effective. On behalf of the Journal Editorial Board, Wiley publishers, the Australian Association of Occupational Therapists Inc., members, readers and authors, I give thanks and salute you. In the platinum anniversary year of our official publication you have left a strong and precious legacy.