Getting Involved With the Journal of Pediatric Health Care

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At our fall Editorial Board meeting, we had an interesting discussion about some of the barriers and issues that might keep individuals from participating in some way with the Journal. For me, this discussion was an eye-opener even after all my years of serving as Editor. Various Editorial Board members discussed how they had initially become involved and how that process was sometimes seen as taking a rather bold step. It was that feeling of trepidation and almost a fear that some of them had experienced that I found to be interesting. Thinking back on that discussion, I realized my response was probably due to the fact that the Journal is part of my day-to-day life, and I honestly can’t imagine feeling insecure or anxious about being involved in any aspect of the Journal. However, from that discussion, the Editorial Board decided we needed to really reach out to all the readers to increase our efforts in getting more participation in the various aspects of the Journal. It’s always been my philosophy as an editor that this is not just NAPNAP’s journal, and it certainly isn’t my journal. Rather, it is you the readers’ journal, and your participation is needed to make sure the Journal is meeting your needs and that it will evolve and change as needed.

Thus, to meet the Editorial Board’s goal of increased participation by the NAPNAP members and Journal readers, I wanted to review some of the ways you can participate in the Journal. Some opportunities are a one-time short commitment and others are more time-intensive. So hopefully you can find an opportunity for you to get involved with JPHC. We are particularly interested in inviting the clinician readers to participate in the Journal. We need you to share your expertise so that all readers can benefit from your knowledge and skills. You, in particular, can help ensure that the Journal is relevant to your practice, and you can help nurse practitioner students who then can incorporate your knowledge into their developing practice.

There are a variety of opportunities to get involved with the Journal. I see these options almost like steps, so you can start with a small project and then move on to a bigger role if you wish. One need not start as the sole author of an original manuscript; there are other ways to contribute. One way to participate might be to send me a Letter to the Editor if you have a differing viewpoint or perspective of an article. Another way to participate could be by submitting a clinical pearl, an approach to a common clinical situation that you have found to be useful and effective.

Another good beginning step may be to submit a case study. The Journal publishes two types of case studies, one focused on primary care issues and the other focused on either acute, chronic, or specialty care cases. To help you submit such cases based on your own practice experiences, the Department Editors have developed user-friendly templates that list the needed content and the format to follow. Thus, you really are just filling in the information from a challenging or interesting patient care situation you have encountered and wish to share with others. You can find a letter describing these case studies, as well as the templates for them at the Journal’s website: www.jpedhc.org. The Journal’s Information for Authors, published in each issue as well on the website, gives additional information about the case studies. If you have any questions prior to submitting a case study, you can contact the Department Editors: Carol Rudy, Corresponding Editor for primary care case studies: rudyca@sbcglobal.net; Sarah Martin, for acute or critical care case studies: smartin@childrensmemorial.org; and Terea Giannetta, for specialty or chronic care case studies: tereag@csufresno.edu. These Department Editors are working hard to get your contributions for this aspect of the Journal and I hope you will participate.

In addition to the case studies, you may contribute to the other Clinical Reports or Departments are well. The Clinical Reports include Pediatric Pharmacology and Practice Guidelines. The Departments include Annotated Abstracts, Legislation and Health Policy, Patient Education, Professional Issues, Product Showcase, and Research. You will find the descriptions for each department and contact information for the department editor in the Information for Authors in each issue. Given the broad scope of clinical and professional areas addressed through the Clinical Reports or Departments, I hope you can make a contribution. The editors are always looking for contributing authors, and you may be just the person.

Other ways to participate in the Journal include as an author of an Original Article or as a member of the Manuscript Review Panel. To help potential authors, the Journal offers a manuscript review session each year at the NAPNAP annual conference. Potential authors can send me a draft or outline of a proposed article prior to the conference, and then at the conference you will be given a 30-minute block of time to receive feedback on your submission. The help doesn’t stop there, however, as you can submit additional drafts until you are ready to have the manuscript go through the formal review process. If you are unable to attend the conference and still would like to get feedback about a potential topic or draft before it is formally submitted, please email me at nelms@csulb.edu. We really do want your article submissions and try hard to be an author-friendly journal.

Reviewers also play a very important role in the Journal. Those of you who have had some publishing experience and would like to serve as a reviewer can submit your vita to me. We often are adding reviewers as we expand the panel or replace reviewers who retire. Thus, I keep a file of potential reviewers and would be happy to add you to that group. We are looking for reviewers in all areas: primary, acute, chronic, and specialty care areas. A final way to be involved is as an Editorial Board member. These individuals are selected based on their publishing background, their areas of clinical expertise, and their commitment to improving the Journal. Often these members have a record of service as members of the review panel or as authors.

So there are multiple ways that you can become active and participate in the Journal. At the NAPNAP annual conference, we always have a scheduled Meet the Editors session at the JPHC booth. You are invited to come by and give us your ideas about topics, authors, or feedback about any aspect of the Journal. We really do want to hear from you. The Journal can only be as good as we all make it. It’s a fun way to make a contribution to our profession and I hope you are willing to try.