The European Paediatric Association Partners with The Journal of Pediatrics to Make Original Research Available to Our Members

Abstract

E P A T he European Paediatric Association (EPA) is pleased to announce a new partnership with The Journal of Pediatrics. We are proud to have established an affiliation with this prominent journal, which is published monthly by Elsevier. The Journal’s mission is: “Through a rigorous process of evaluation and peer review, The Journal of Pediatrics strives to publish pediatric research of the highest value for a diverse audience of pediatric healthcare professionals... The Journal seeks to inform immediate care decisions, deepen knowledge, and advance further scientific discovery to improve the quality of care and the health of infants, children, and adolescents” (http://www.jpeds.com/content/missionstatement). The latter part of the mission will be especially important for the practice-focused members of EPA because it harmonizes with EPA’s vision: “By 2015, [EPA will] be internationally perceived as the leading paediatric association in Europe and neighbouring areas, representing leading operative standards for uniting paediatricians internationally and facilitating their joint efforts to work, learn and grow together” (http://www.epa-unepsa.org/page/mission-objectives). In terms of quick access to medical updates, this new collaboration with The Journal will have a profound effect on our members by dramatically improving our membership’s access to new original research. Because The Journal publishes original clinical research articles, the clinical updates to members of EPA will now take an important step toward the research front, and thereby provide members of EPA with quicker access to premier quality pediatric research. This change indicates the start of a new important era for EPA. Making primary clinical research available to our members, of course, comes with a responsibility, and this is worth a comment. If and how to best use new research data clinically is a widely recognized challenge. Individual clinical trials do not necessarily reflect real-life clinical practice because patients cannot be stratified or randomized in clinical practice. The results of trials may or may not be applicable for the individual patient’s situation. We believe in our members’ ability to make clinical decisions if given access to new high-quality data. To date, that part has been missing. The research will, of course, remain important, and it will be even better covered from now on through the complementary educational functions of easily-digestible EPA newsletter features, scientifically robust