Where to now for our journal?

Abstract

As this will be my last editorial for the Australian Occupational Therapy Journal (AOTJ), I decided to review the aims and objectives of the journal. It is pleasing to note that they are being fulfilled. We do produce a high-quality peer-reviewed journal, which promotes research and communication and provides a forum for discussion and debate. The manuscripts published are relevant to occupational therapy theory, practice and education, and we are able to provide analysis and commentary of other research articles in the form of Critically Appraised Papers. We have a large number of voluntary reviewers who donate their time to review submitted manuscripts – in fact we had 140 individual reviewers over the last 18 months, some providing reviews for four different manuscripts. It is also encouraging to note that online downloads have increased from 2005 by 49%, to 135 939 in 2006! This demonstrates the increasing use and significance of the journal as a professional, clinical, educational and research resource. Over the 2-year period 2004–2006, the submission rate of all manuscripts increased by more than 100% including an increase of 30% in international manuscripts over the period 2005–2006. It is also interesting to note that the cost per member for the AOTJ has reduced from $A20.00 in 2005, to $A16.00 per annum in 2006. The members of the AOTJ Editorial Board feel this is a small percentage of the National Levy to be paying for such a quality publication. The AOTJ is the public face of occupational therapy and OT AUSTRALIA nationally and internationally. The increased submission rate is related to a number of factors. There are more occupational therapy courses with more postgraduate and honours students who are undertaking research; there is a demand from the universities that staff publish; senior clinicians are required to undertake research and publish, and there is demand for evidence-based practice. In summary occupational therapists are becoming more research active, and our journal is highly regarded by profession. However, it is not all good news. The page allocation during this time has fluctuated, from 380 pages in 2005, 352 pages in 2006, to 304 pages in 2007. This of course results in a backlog of manuscripts waiting to be published, notwithstanding the rejection of manuscripts which do not reach the required standard. The Editorial Board of the AOTJ recently made some very hard decisions to develop strategies to overcome the backlog of manuscripts. The Board decided to discontinue the ‘In Practice’ section of the journal—any new manuscripts for this section will be returned to the authors, suggesting that they consider submitting to OT Connections, or to another journal. Thesis Abstracts will no longer be published, Book Reviews and Critically Appraised Papers will be reduced to two per issue. In addition, the Board decided to reduce the word limit for all research and feature manuscripts to 4000 (from 5000), reduce the number of figures and tables to four per manuscript and reduce the number of references to 25 (from 60) per manuscript. These strategies should result in the equivalent of an extra 100+ pages of available space per volume, which will enable more manuscripts to be published. At the current submission rate, it is proposed that from 2009 AOTJ be published as six 80-page issues per year. Online Early is to be retained, which offers the opportunity for authors to cite their publications prior to their publication in the hard copy of the journal. In addition to these strategies the Council of OT AUSTRALIA has been asked to consider the importance of the AOTJ to the profession and allocate more funding to publish a special supplement in 2007 and six large issues in 2008 to overcome the balance of the backlog of manuscripts. Good times should lie ahead for our Journal, we have an innovative Editorial Board; the journal has been a leader internationally with Critically Appraised Papers and Online Early and was in fact the first occupational therapy journal to be published online. It is important that this fine reputation is maintained and that the journal is respected and supported by the professional body under whose banner it exists.