Australian Occupational Therapy Journal Research Articles

Scopus based bibliometric and scientometric analysis of occupational therapy publications from 2001 to 2020

Background: Occupational therapy (OT) is one of the allied health professions, with its first journals in 1920. The main objective of this study was to find out the publication trend in the field of OT research for the period of 2001-2020 using the principles of bibliometrics and scientometrics. Methods: The data was retrieved from Scopus from the past 20 years (2001-2020). VOSviewer software was used to find year-wise publications in OT-specific and non-OT-specific Journals along with top journals, countries, organisations, authors, cited articles, and highly used keywords. Results: There was a steady growth of OT articles over the past 20 years. Scopus indexes 16 OT-specific journals are identified. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, British Journal of Occupational Therapy Journal, Australian Occupational Therapy Journal, Scandinavian Journal of Occupational Therapy, and Canadian Journal of Occupational Therapy are the leading publications and citations. A comparison of OT-specific and non-OT journals inferred that the OT-specific papers are three times more published in non-OT journals. There is a trend in publishing multidisciplinary medical journals than OT journals. The US publishes the most articles, followed by the UK, Australia, Canada, and Germany. Though the US alone produced a considerable number of articles (9517), only five organisations are listed in the top 20, compared to Canada (n=6) and Australia (n=5). Australia represents the highest number of published authors (n=11/20). Canada represents a highly cited author from the top-cited publications. The five common keywords used by OT-authors are "occupational therapy", “rehabilitation”, “stroke”, “physical therapy,” and “activities of daily living”. This study lists top-20 journals along with their CiteScore and Journal Impact Factor. Conclusions: This study will help the budding researchers in OT to select a suitable quality journal for publication and, further, helpful for research promotion, researcher incentivising, grant allocations, and policymakers in the OT field.

Profile of Pediatric Occupational Therapy Practice in Kuwait: A Qualitative Study

Pediatrics specialty is the most occupational therapy practice in Kuwait. Therefore, the purpose of this survey is to establish a profile of pediatric occupational therapy practice in Kuwait. Moreover, it aims to recognize the most common diagnoses that are referred to the pediatrics occupational therapy in Kuwait as well as identify the most common assessments, frame of reference, and intervention techniques that are used in the area of practice. In addition, there are also many studies conducted about pediatric occupational therapy profiles in Australia, Canada, and United States, However, there are no studies about pediatric occupational therapy profiles in Kuwait (Australian Occupational Therapy Journal, 2005). Therefore, the importance of this research is to follow a successful role model similar to Canada, Australia, and the United States. The Methodology was is ex post facto survey that is adapted to conduct the data. The sample is all pediatric occupational therapists working in both Ministry of Health and the privet educational sector in Kuwait receive the survey. The sample size was 260 therapists but the responding participants were 217 therapists. The result showed that the most commonly used assessments were the Developmental Test of Visual Motor Integration, Peabody Developmental Motor Scales, Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency, and the Sensory Profile.

Reporting Quality in Abstracts of Randomized Controlled Trials Published in High-Impact Occupational Therapy Journals.

Adequate reporting in the abstracts of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) is essential to enable occupational therapy practitioners to critically appraise the validity of findings. To evaluate the reporting quality and characteristics of RCT abstracts published between 2008 and 2018 in the occupational therapy journals with the five highest impact factors in 2018. A descriptive cross-sectional study. The American Journal of Occupational Therapy (AJOT), Australian Occupational Therapy Journal (AOTJ), Canadian Journal of Occupational Therapy (CJOT), Scandinavian Journal of Occupational Therapy (SJOT), and Physical and Occupational Therapy in Pediatrics (POTP) were identified using a Web of Science search. We searched Scopus for abstracts in the five included journals. We used a 17-point scale based on the CONSORT for Abstracts (CONSORT-A) checklist to assess reporting quality. We also identified characteristics of the abstracts. Seventy-eight RCT abstracts were assessed and showed moderate to low adherence to the CONSORT-A checklist (Mdn = 8, interquartile range = 7-9). Abstracts of articles with authors from a higher number of institutions, European first authors, and >200 words had higher CONSORT-A scores. The most underreported CONSORT-A items were trial design, blinding, numbers analyzed, outcome (results), harms, trial registration, and funding. Between 2008 and 2018, the reporting quality in RCT abstracts from the five highest impact occupational therapy journals was moderate to low. Inadequate reporting in RCT abstracts raises the risk that occupational therapy practitioners will make ineffective clinical decisions based on misinterpretation of findings. What This Article Adds: Reporting quality in RCT abstracts in occupational therapy journals is moderate to low. Journal editors should require authors of RCTs to use the CONSORT-A checklist to promote optimal reporting and transparency in abstracts.

Scopus based bibliometric and scientometric analysis of occupational therapy publications from 2001 to 2020

Background: Occupational therapy (OT) is one of the allied health professions that had its first journals way back in 1920. The main objective of this study was to find out the publication trend in the field of OT research for the period of 2001-2020 using the principles of bibliometrics and scientometrics. Methods: The data was retrieved from Scopus from the past 20-years (2001-2020). VOSviewer software was used to find year-wise publications in OT-specific and non-OT-specific Journals along with top journals, countries, organisations, authors, cited articles, and highly used keywords. Results: There was a steady growth of OT articles from the past 20-years. Scopus indexes 16 OT-specific journals are identified. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, British Journal of Occupational Therapy Journal, Australian Occupational Therapy Journal, Scandinavian Journal of Occupational Therapy and Canadian Journal of Occupational Therapy are the leading publications and citations. Comparison of OT-specific and non-OT journals inferred that the OT-specific papers are three times more published in non-OT journals. There is a trend in publishing multidisciplinary medical journals than OT journals. The US publishes the highest number of articles, followed by the UK, Australia, Canada, and Germany. Though the US alone produced a considerable number of articles (9517), only five organisations are listed in the top-20, compared to Canada (n=6) and Australia (n=5). Australia represents the highest published authors (n=11/20), and Canada represents a highly cited author from the top-cited publications. The “occupational therapy”, “rehabilitation”, “stroke”, “physical therapy,” and “activities of daily living” are the five common keywords used by OT authors. This study lists top-20 journals along with their CiteScore and Journal Impact Factor. Conclusions: This study will help the budding researchers in OT to select a suitable quality journal for publication and, further, helpful for research promotion, researcher incentivising, grant allocations, and policymakers in the OT field.

Drivers of Consumers’ Behaviour to Recycle Smartphones

Drivers of Consumers’ Behaviour to Recycle Smartphones

Quality-of-Life Discrepancies Among Autistic Adolescents and Adults: A Rapid Review.

Quality of life (QoL) is a core outcome of occupational therapy, but it is decreased among autistic adolescents and adults. This is the first review of QoL from an occupational therapy standpoint. To identify self-reported QoL differences between autistic and nonautistic samples; investigate sex differences in QoL among autistic people; examine consistency in QoL among autistic people across age, intellectual disability (ID), and self- versus proxy-report method; and appraise occupational therapy-related interventions addressing QoL among autistic people. Articles published in peer-reviewed journals between 2010 and 2020, located through Academic Search Ultimate, PubMed, and OTseeker, along with the American Journal of Occupational Therapy, British Journal of Occupational Therapy, Canadian Journal of Occupational Therapy, and Australian Occupational Therapy Journal. Study Selection and Data Collection: Article samples consisted of at least 20% autistic females and used self-reported QoL measures. Qualitative research was excluded, as well as studies with participants younger than age 13 yr. Twenty-seven articles qualified (3 Level 1B, 13 Level 3B, and 11 Level 4). Autistic adolescents and adults demonstrated decreased self-reported QoL compared with nonautistic peers across age and ID presence. One article compared sex differences in QoL among autistic people. Interventions improved QoL among autistic people. Autistic adolescents and adults demonstrate decreased QoL in comparison with nonautistic peers. Questions remain related to sex differences in QoL among autistic people, an area for future research. Multiple evidence-based approaches to improve QoL in the autistic population are relevant to occupational therapy practice. What This Article Adds: Self-reported QoL among autistic adolescents and adults is clearly lower than among their nonautistic counterparts. This article provides information on multiple interventions related to occupational therapy to improve QoL among autistic people.

Consumer engagement in occupational therapy health‐related research: A scoping review of the Australian Occupational Therapy Journal and a call to action

Consumer engagement in research is becoming an ethical, political, and moral imperative. The aim of this scoping review was to provide a snapshot of the current status of the emerging area of consumer engagement in occupational therapy health-related research, as published in the Australian Occupational Therapy Journal. A scoping review was conducted of all health-related original research published in the Australian Occupational Therapy Journal for 5½ years, plus Early View, as at June 2019. Eligible papers were examined for consumer engagement content which included any active choice or control by consumers, beyond being a research participant. A recognised six stage methodology was used with quantitative and qualitative data analysed. Two consumers collaborated in interpreting the data including finalising themes, leading theme naming, developing key discussion points, and producing recommendations. Of the 123 eligible papers, 48 (39.02%) included consumer engagement. However, only two incorporated consumer engagement across all research phases-preparation, execution and translation. A total of 103 consumer engagement activities were charted and categorised across all papers. There were limited instances of consumer collaboration (14/103, 13.59%) or consumer-led research processes (15/103, 14.56%) reported. Four themes emerged: Parity in research partnerships; It's important to know the Who, What, When, How and So What of consumer involvement; Consumer engagement must be a two-way process-not a dead end street; and Meeting the challenge-being diverse and inclusive. Comprehensive consumer-researcher partnerships may not be common-place in health-related occupational therapy research in the Australian Occupational Therapy Journal. This paper is a call to action. Occupational therapists must embrace consumer research partnerships as a demonstration of the key philosophies of enabling and empowering consumers and communities. Collaboration with two consumers in finalising data analysis, results interpretation and reporting added a diverse and valuable perspective.

Multi Perspectives on Play Based Curriculum Quality Standards in the Center Learning Model

Multi Perspectives on Play Based Curriculum Quality Standards in the Center Learning Model

Occupational therapy publications by Australian authors: A bibliometric analysis.

Bibliometrics refers to the collection and measurement of publishing and citation data configurations with the goal of quantifying the influence of scholarly activities. Advantages of bibliometrics include the generation of quantitative indicators of impact, productivity, quality and collaboration. Those parties who benefit from the results of bibliometric analysis include researchers, educators, journal publishers, employers and research funding bodies. A bibliometric analysis was completed of peer-reviewed literature from 1991 to 2015, written by Australian occupational therapists (who were able to be identified as such), and indexed in the Science Citation Index-Expanded (SCI-Expanded) or the Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI) databases. "Occupational therapy" and "occupational therapist(s)" were used as keywords to search journal articles' publication title, abstract, author details, keywords and KeyWord Plus. Between 1991 and 2015, 752 peer-reviewed journal articles were published by Australian occupational therapy authors. On average, those articles had 3.7 authors, 35 references, and were nine pages in length. The top four journals in which Australian occupational therapists published were Australian Occupational Therapy Journal, British Journal of Occupational Therapy, American Journal of Occupational Therapy, and Physical and Occupational Therapy in Paediatrics. The four Australian institutions that generated the largest number of occupational therapy articles were the University of Queensland, University of Sydney, La Trobe University, and Monash University. The top four countries with whom Australian authors collaborated in manuscript writing were the United Kingdom, United States, Canada and Sweden. The volume of occupational therapy peer-reviewed literature has grown over the last two decades. Australian authors have and continue to make significant contributions to the occupational therapy body of knowledge nationally and internationally.

Author Guidelines of the Australian Occupational Therapy Journal - revised 2017

In 2017, the ‘Author Guidelines’ for the Australian Occupational Therapy Journal were revised so as to better inform prospective contributors of the journal's aim and scope; submission and reporting format requirements; ethical considerations; manuscript types available; governing copyright principles; and publishing processes. The guidelines now align minimum information requirements with the increasingly complex and rapidly evolving regulatory, standards and technical context of scholarly publishing. The ‘Author Guidelines’ set out principles and procedures used by the Australian Occupational Therapy Journal Editorial Board to make decisions about the eligibility, suitability and priority of submissions for review and publication. In doing so, the ‘Author Guidelines’ provide the Editorial Board with the means to advance the scholarly reputation and standing of the official publication of Occupational Therapy Australia. The guidelines also explain how the principles of authorship operate in the Australian Occupational Therapy Journal, thus clarifying author responsibilities and accountabilities. For prospective contributors, the Australian Occupational Therapy Journal 2017 revised ‘Author Guidelines’ are detailed, specific and prescriptive to assist potential authors as they prepare their work for dissemination. There are three reasons for this. First, an inclusive set of guidelines provides contributing authors of diverse backgrounds and experience levels with a standardised reference to frame expectations, format requirements and minimum standards. Specificity is particularly helpful to novice contributors. Second, the honorary nature of Australian Occupational Therapy Journal Editorial Board and reviewer roles limits the capacity for individualised guidance provided to authors about manuscript conventions – written guidelines provide consistent and equivalent advice to prospective contributors. Third, with limited ‘page-space’, an increasing number of manuscript submissions and mounting demands placed on manuscript reviewers, detailed author guidelines are a prospective strategy to assure minimum quality standards are maintained. New features of the Australian Occupational Therapy Journal ‘Author Guidelines’ include: a checklist for authors which is published on the website and included in the online submission form, making explicit the minimum format and style requirements in advance and at the point of submission; an updated and expanded ‘Aims and Scope’ statement to help inform prospective authors about the journal, the topic areas that will be considered and the types of papers that will be given preference; a description of the editorial process; an expanded statement on ethics in research; and revised publication categories and formats. In relation to paper categories, innovations of note include: an extended abstract length to recognise the important role that abstracts play as easy-to-access information resources for practitioners, students and researchers; specific guidelines for review papers including online publication of review-tables which are commonly long, detailed and limit the opportunity for other papers to be published in a restricted paper-pdf/print-only issues format; use of online production for Letters to the Editor; and the introduction of invitation or screened proposals for Viewpoint articles. The latter was introduced to better align this journal ‘department’ with other peer-review publications and the role of the journal as the official publication of Occupational Therapy Australia. Critically Appraised Papers will remain as a unique feature of the Australian Occupational Therapy Journal with an evaluation of the readership, download and use scheduled for late 2018. The Australian Occupational Therapy Journal 2017 revised ‘Author Guidelines’ provide prospective authors with a framework to inform paper development and thereby promote the publication of high-quality research that further develops the profession of occupational therapy nationally and abroad.

Open access and the Australian Occupational Therapy Journal

There has been an increasing call for peer-reviewed journals that publish scholarly evidence to become ‘Open Access’ whereby their contents can be freely retrieved with cost incurred to individuals accessing them. Two subtypes of Open Access journals are ‘hybrid open access’ (some articles are open access and others not), and ‘delayed open access’ (some articles are open access and other articles have delayed access) (Ohno-Machado, 2011). Traditionally, journals have been published in two ways. In the first instance, professional associations, government organisations, universities or learned societies published journals that were only available to members as a benefit or subscribers to that journal. The second option included journals that were published by private companies (e.g. Sage and Wiley-Blackwell) and subscriptions were sold to those who wanted access to the journals. In both these contexts, access to journal articles was restricted to individuals who had a paid subscription or access fee. There are several reasons why journals' becoming Open Access has become a timely topic. An emphasis on evidence-based practice; knowledge translation; journal quality metrics (such as impact factor); increased international visibility; higher citation rates for authors; plus many agencies who fund research requiring grant recipients to publish their findings in journals that are classified as Open Access (Willinsky, 2006) all put pressure on journals to provide this. Journals can be ‘Open Access’ in several ways. Firstly, a journal can be completely ‘Open Access’ using a fee-based approach or a no-fee option. The costs associated with fee-based open access journals is borne either by the journal's sponsoring organisation, the journal's publisher, the authors who submit the articles to the journal, the author's employer, a research grant an author has received, or a combination thereof. The Australian Physiotherapy Association's Journal of Physiotherapy is a recent example of a journal that is now no-fee, open access. Alternatively, a journal can have specific articles that are classified as accessible even though there may be other articles that are not. Editors can decide to make an article freely available or authors pay a fee to the journal publisher to enable free access. This is the current arrangement for the Australian Occupational Therapy Journal (AOTJ) with Wiley-Blackwell. One result of passing on the cost of making an article ‘Open Access’ is the rise of ‘vanity publishers’ and ‘predatory publishers’ who produce material that is presented as ‘open access’, but then charge authors large fees to accept and publish their manuscripts as a means of generating profits. ‘Many of these publishers are corrupt and exist only to make money off the author processing charges that are billed to authors upon acceptance of their scientific manuscripts’ (Beall, 2013, n.p.). These sources of information are considered not credible and are best avoided. A list of these journals and their publishers is available from Beall's List of Predatory Publishers 2013 (http://scholarlyoa.com/2012/12/06/bealls-list-of-predatory-publishers-2013/). AOTJ currently complies with all relevant research funding requirements by offering a variety of Open Access options. The AOTJ utilises a ‘hybrid open access’ approach where an author who has an article accepted for publication is able to pay a fee directly to the publishers to make it Open Access. The first issue of the current year and special issues of the AOTJ are also freely accessible for a period of time when they are first published. If the AOTJ wanted to become completely Open Access, then the cost linked to this would need to be carried either by the individual authors publishing in the AOTJ or by Occupational Therapy Australia Limited (OT AUSTRALIA) who contracts Wiley-Blackwell to publish the AOTJ and provides AOTJ as a member benefit. Both options would have additional cost implications for the parties involved. One primary advantage of making the AOTJ Open Access would be that it would likely increase the journal's Impact Factor by making its articles easier to retrieve and cite (Björk & Solomon, 2012). The question to be considered and debated is the cost-benefit of such a move for the Australian occupational therapy community, OT AUSTRALIA as an organisation, and OT AUSTRALIA's membership, Wiley-Blackwell as the publisher of the AOTJ and the users and consumers of occupational therapy evidence.

REPORT OF EDITORIAL BOARD OF AUSTRALIAN OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY JOURNAL, 30th JUNE, 1969

REPORT OF EDITORIAL BOARD OF AUSTRALIAN OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY JOURNAL, 30th JUNE, 1969

Australian Occupational Therapy Journal Annual Report

Australian Occupational Therapy Journal Annual Report

Online Publication and the Impact Factor

Online Publication and the Impact Factor

Editorial

It is now over 12 months since I took over as Editor-in-Chief of the Australian Occupational Therapy Journal. I consider it a great privilege to be involved in such an important aspect of our profession and to work with such dedicated colleagues. It has been an exciting time for the journal with ISI listing, Medline indexing, and the move to six issues of the journal per year in 2009. We have also started a new review category to encourage submissions of narrative, systematic and meta-analytic reviews. The role of the Editor-in-Chief is varied and challenging, ranging from allocating reviewers (which involves reading through every submission to ensure the guidelines are met regarding format, relevance to the journal and, most importantly, ethics) to making final decisions on reviewed manuscripts and allocating manuscripts for each issue. Continued development of the journal is also part of the role, which includes marketing, and the reviewing of procedures and processes. Through Wiley-Blackwell the AOTJ is a member of COPE — the Committee on Publication Ethics, which describes its role as ‘a forum for publishers and editors of peer-reviewed journals to discuss issues related to the integrity of work submitted to or published in their journals. It supports and encourages editors to report, catalogue and instigate investigations into ethical problems in the publication process’. The COPE website (http://publicationethics.org/) also provides valuable information relating to common issues that arise in journal publication such as authorship, including an article on ‘How to handle authorship disputes: a guide for new researchers’ (Albert & Wager, 2003), which is helpful for researchers negotiating authorship dilemmas. The integrity of our journal is paramount, and through membership of this group and following recommended procedures a high standard is ensured. We are fortunate in occupational therapy to have high ethical standards, with infrequent breaches. The journal continues to receive constant support from OT Australia and the publishers Wiley-Blackwell, which, when combined with the dedicated editorial board, makes for a smooth-running high-quality journal. The quality of submissions continues to rise, and we are also seeing a heightened interest from international occupational therapists. The members of the Advisory Board provide a valuable contribution to the journal and provide an important international connection and representation. The letter to colleagues by Lannin et al. (2009) published in the April issue, entitled ‘Scholarly communication and concerns for our conferences’ has stimulated considerable discussion and debate. The letter was also published in the British Journal of Occupational Therapy, Dutch Journal of Occupational Therapy and Norwegian Occupational Therapy Journal, stimulating far-reaching discussion. To date, AOTJ has received two letters in response, which were both published in the June issue. This type of discussion is an important means for advancement of the profession. Not challenging the status quo for fear of offending someone or rocking the boat only serves to stifle a profession. It would be encouraging to see even more discussion on topics that might be considered controversial, either through viewpoints, letters or commentaries. We as board members are constantly considering how well we are meeting the aims of the journal and your feedback as authors, reviewers and readers would be most welcome. I hope you enjoy this issue, which covers a broad range of practice areas to resource and support your evidence-based practice. Elspeth FroudeEditor-in-Chief

Looking forward

It is with great pleasure that I am writing my first introductory editorial as the new editor of the Australian Occupational Therapy Journal. I am fortunate to be taking on this role after a period of great growth and development of the Journal which has ultimately led to the ISI listing. This listing is a wonderful achievement for Janet Fricke and the editorial team. This development well and truly positions the Journal on the international stage and we are likely to see an increase in the number and quality of submissions as a result. Gaining a reasonable impact factor which will be published in 2010 is the next challenge. Another exciting announcement is the introduction of a new annual award The Kryss McKenna First Time Writer's Award. This award was established by OT AUSTRALIA to honour the dedication and significant contribution made by Associate Professor Kryss McKenna to developing academic occupational therapy writers in Australia. It also acknowledges her long and productive association with the Australian Occupational Therapy Journal. The inaugural award will be presented at the National Conference. I encourage you all to attend the 23rd National Conference, be inspired, research and write, thus adding to our ever increasing evidence for practice. I would like to say a big thank you to reviewers, who are critical in maintaining a high standard of publications. The conference will be a great opportunity to meet with other reviewers and members of the Editorial team. We are always in need of experts to review for the Journal so if you would like to sign up you can do so by registering through manuscript central. I would also like to sincerely thank Janet and everyone involved in the Journal for supporting me in my new role.

A new era, new editor plus ISI listing

On my second last day as editor I received the important news that Thomson ISI had listed the Australian Occupational Therapy Journal for inclusion on their data base. This means the journal should get an Impact Factor in 2009, which will be released in mid-2010. The ISI maintains a large collection of bibliographic and indexing data for scientific literature and measures the impact and influence of published research. The AOTJ Board and Wiley–Blackwell have been working towards this listing for a number of years. This listing means that the AOTJ will become more attractive for authors whose employers require an Impact Factor for ranking their publications, this particularly relates to universities. A journal's Impact Factor is improved by increasing the number of citations; this is also affected by the visibility of the journal, we are fortunate to have online access to enhance this. We first applied for listing in 2003, but were unsuccessful, so it is a perfect way for me to hand over to Elspeth Froude, our new editor, after this second application has been successful. We were fortunate to have several applicants for this position, thus necessitating a thorough appraisal and interview process by a panel selected by OT Australia. Elspeth graduated in 1987 from Cumberland College of Health Sciences, NSW with a Bachelor of Applied Science in Occupational Therapy. She then went on to work in a number of paediatric settings in Tasmania and Victoria. Elspeth joined the School of Occupational Therapy, LaTrobe University as a lecturer in 1991. She has taught and supervised honours and postgraduate students in the field of paediatrics. Elspeth completed a Graduate Diploma in Neuroscience and then enrolled in a PhD researching in the area of children's handwriting. She has always been a keen supporter of the AOTJ through publishing and extensive reviewing. She has also been involved with OT AUSTRALIA through the paediatric special interest group and has been an Accredited OT since the program's inception. I wish Elspeth every success in her new role and take this opportunity to thank the AOTJ Editorial Board, the Editorial Advisory Board, and most importantly all at Wiley–Blackwell.

Looking forward, looking back

Welcome to the first edition of 2008, and a new year of research productivity and scholarship for the occupational therapy profession. Our professional journal is the window of our profession to the world and this issue is no exception with a broad range of contributions that reflect the diversity and creativity of occupational therapy practice. This editorial will pause to review the challenges and rewards of professional publishing and look forward to the continuing development of the journal. What is the role of a professional journal? Professional publishing is a vehicle for research and practice to have an influence on building professional knowledge, and to make the work of occupational therapists available for discussion and debate, and to inform the work of other health professionals (Unruh, 2007). Scholarly writing is an important medium to stimulate new thinking on a topic, challenge practice and promote change and the advancement of professional knowledge (Finlayson, 2007). Therefore, a professional journal is a key means of communicating professional knowledge, promoting evidence-based practice and providing an opportunity for networking and collaboration. The year 2007 welcomed innovations for the Australian Occupational Therapy Journal (AOTJ) in response to current challenges. For instance, a special issue on mental health allowing practitioners and researchers to showcase their work on this important topic, the first on-line-only supplement focussing on occupational therapy education, and the introduction of a series of papers on research methods. As the occupational therapy profession continues to grow with increased numbers of graduates, students completing honours projects and therapists undertaking research degrees, the challenge of the capacity of the journal to accommodate the expediential increase in manuscript submissions remains. Achieving Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) listing to enable AOTJ to gain an impact factor has received much attention in past editorials (Fricke, 2006; Farnworth, 2007) and will continue to be a key goal for the journal into the future. Despite the controversies in relation to the use of the impact factor outlined by Fricke (2006), the validation of publications by impact factor is currently a critical component of competitive grant applications and academic appointments, and the AOTJ needs to continue to pursue this goal. A further critical challenge in 2008 is to appoint an editor who will continue the excellent and inspiring work of Janet Fricke in directing the journal's future growth. The ultimate challenge of professional publishing is at the individual level of writing, where many obstacles often need to be overcome to get into print. These challenges include perceiving oneself as a writer with the necessary skills, confidence about the relevance of one's work for publication, the capacity to analyse and critique one's own work and finding the time and head-space to be creative (Wright-St. Clair & Hocking, 2005). Enhancing one's contribution through peer review may involve accepting constructive criticism and even dealing positively with rejection of one's work (Unruh, 2007). The rewards of an individual publication are many and include knowing your work has contributed to the international occupational therapy knowledge base, promoting occupational therapy among other health professionals, and ultimately benefiting the consumers of occupational therapy practice. Hopefully, 2008 will be the year that many new authors will respond to the professional mandate to make a contribution to the journal, rather than allowing completed theses and project reports to remain on a shelf. So, 2008 will be a time for the journal to continue managing the balance of competing drivers to ensure its continued development as an internationally recognized publication in an environment of rapid change. At the end of the day, the final challenge for the journal is how to get the contents of the journal out of the plastic bag and into practice, so that occupational therapists demonstrate the evidence that the services provided to consumers are effective (Thomas, 2007).

Occupational therapy education: This is a special supplement

This editorial introduces a new era in the life of the Australian Occupational Therapy Journal (AOTJ): the publication of the first Online Only issue. While this is a new venture for AOTJ, it is important to note that a journal issue which is available online exclusively is as legitimate and citable as a paper issue and, in fact, many journals are now only available online. The need for this development has come about because of the significant increase in submissions to the AOTJ over the last few years and the necessity to overcome the resultant backlog of manuscripts. OT AUSTRALIA has supported the journal to manage the problem by the provision of extra funding for this special supplement on occupational therapy education. It is most valuable to the profession and academic institutions to have these education manuscripts together in one issue. The Australian and New Zealand Council of Occupational Therapy Education supports the role that occupational therapy journals play in the promotion of evidence-based practice, the publication of research and provision of a forum for professional debate. It is of note that articles selected for this issue cover a large range of educational concerns, with many addressing the theme of fieldwork education. There are several innovative models for fieldwork including a collaborative fieldwork model, intercultural fieldwork and the value of fieldwork for supervisors. In the current climate where there are well-documented difficulties in finding sufficient fieldwork placements, it is important to publish articles that address and provide some solutions to these pressing problems (Adamson, 2005). The publication of an Online Only issue is supported by statistics included in AOTJ annual reports which show that online readership increased by 49% between 2005 and 2006. This indicates a substantial trend towards and interest in the expediency and advantages of online access for Australian readers. In addition, the added opportunity for more national and international colleagues to have access to the journal via university library online subscriptions is a welcome development, and contributors to the journal will also benefit from this wider readership. With the increase in the number of occupational therapy university courses and graduates, and the subsequent increase in the research profile of occupational therapists, this initiative is a significant indicator of the profession's expansion and progress. I support the AOTJ Board in its endeavours to overcome the manuscript backlog with the provision of Online Early, and now the introduction of this special Education Supplement, and commend OT AUSTRALIA for supporting our journal in this manner.

Where to now for our journal?

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.