Navigating Editorial Waters: Alicui Tamen Faciendum Est.

The late David Foster Wallace wrote The Pale King, a fictional novel about tax collectors in the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). It was published posthumously on Tax Day following his suicide in 2008. In it, he claims that the Latin expression in the above subheading is the motto for the IRS where it means, "He is the one doing a difficult, unpopular job," but no such actual motto exists for that government entity. Instead, another interpretation of the saying might be "Anyway, someone has to do it," which conveniently sums up the kinds of responsibilities undertaken by a journal editor.

Some Observations and Concerns in the World of Periodicals.

One-year production data for the Journal of Allied Health are tabulated for the period ending each August 31. As reported in the Fall 2023 issue, it required sending an invitation to as many as 18 prospective reviewers before a single recipient accepted it. Once on board, 140 individuals agreed to review one or more papers that year. They made especially valuable contributions to the success of the Journal either by finishing assessments or continuing to work on pending manuscripts awaiting a final decision. Meanwhile, a convenient way of describing their immense value is to note the following comments made in an editorial in the January 2024 issue of the American Journal of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation.

Some Overseas Perspectives Regarding Periodicals.

Periodicals in the biomedical and natural sciences differ in fundamental ways, such as whether they use an impact factor. Peer review is considered another key element in scientific publications, but also can be viewed as having various flaws, e.g., poor in detecting fraud, highly subjective, prone to bias, expensive, and easily abused. Single-blind peer review is the traditional model in which reviewers know the identity of authors, but the reverse is not true, thereby raising a related concern that there is a serious power imbalance. The results of a recent study describe an investigation in which it was found that after switching from single-blind to double-blind peer review the quality of review reports, measured using the modified Review Quality Instrument (RQI), improved. Results indicate that double-blind peer review is a feasible model to a journal in a small language area without major downsides. The Journal of Allied Health uses double-blind peer review.

Common Attributes of Periodicals in the Health Sphere.

The Journal of Allied Health (JAH) produced by the Association of Schools Advancing Health Professions (ASAHP) shares many common features with other periodicals in the wide world of professional publications. The JAH is issued quarterly while other journals range from weekly to annual reviews. Irrespective of periodicity, similar costs usually characterize a vast range of publications. For example, one or more salaried editors must decide: which manuscripts will be selected to undergo peer review, which peer reviewers will be invited to conduct assessments of submitted articles, and which papers will be accepted or rejected for publication. Related costs include copyediting, typesetting, mailing paper copies of the journal to subscribers, and creating and archiving an electronic version of each issue. Costs for most journals typically are offset by a combination of subscription fees, authors' page charges, and advertisement revenue.

Technological Impacts on the Sphere of Professional Journals.

Artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to help authors improve the preparation and quality of their manuscripts are increasing rapidly in number and sophistication, including tools to assist with writing, grammar, language, references, statistical analysis, and reporting standards. The release of ChatGPT, a new open source, natural language processing tool that is designed to simulate human conversation in response to prompts or questions, has prompted both excitement and concerns about potential misuse.

Journal of Allied Health: Internal And External Considerations.

The Board of Directors of the Association of Schools Advancing Health Professions (ASAHP) during a meeting in April 2021 approved the publication of a Special Issue on the topic of Diversity and in having Alexis Ortiz, who currently is at Augustana University, to be the Guest Editor. He was highly successful in recruiting authors for nine manuscripts that appear in this Winter 2022 issue. The health domain represents a major aspect of life in the United States. Unfortunately, it is characterized by disparities and inequities in the provision of health care services that result in adverse impacts on significant portions of the population. ASAHP continues to take positive steps to remedy these societal defects. This special issue of the Journal represents one manifestation of an effort not only to shed additional light on the nature of a regrettable situation but also to improve it.

Myths Surrounding the Peer Review Process.

As editor of the Journal of Allied Health, the current holder of that position maintains an ongoing interest in the editorials produced by individuals with similar responsibilities for other periodicals. One of many suitable areas to survey regularly is the vast portfolio of journals produced by the publishing company Nature. The March 2022 issue of the periodical Nature Human Behaviour offers a worthwhile illustration. The editor in that instance advanced the proposition that although peer review is far from perfect, it currently is the best tool to evaluate the robustness and validity of scientific research.

Happenings in the World of Scientific Periodicals.

Since my becoming editor of the Journal of Allied Health beginning with the Winter 2008 issue, approximately 1,200 manuscripts have been submitted and 713 have been published in the electronic version of this periodical, not including Editorials, Quiddities, and ASAHP Annual Conference Abstracts. The Oxford English Dictionary defines Meticulous as being careful, scrupulous, and precise about minute details. Punctilious is defined as strictly observant of or insistent on fine points of procedure and extremely or excessively particular or correct. This pair of attributes is characteristic of efforts through the peer review process and the copyediting phase of each issue of our publication to achieve these high standards.

Current Developments in Journal Practices.

Members of the editorial board of the Journal of Allied Health, a publication of the Association of Schools Advancing Health Professions (ASAHP), participated in a virtual meeting on October 20, 2021, during the organization's annual conference. They recommended making configuration changes in the information provided on the ASAHP website regarding the section, Guidelines For Authors.

Allied Health Workforce: A Web Of Complexities.

Colleges and universities do not exist in a social vacuum. Academic administrators must be cognizant of workforce trends that will affect decisions regarding the creation of new programs, elimination of existing offerings, or the extent to which current programs should be expanded or downsized. The Journal of Allied Health would be enriched by having more workforce articles published. Topics of possible interest to readers are: recruitment and retention of both faculty and students; supply and distribution of selected health professionals in rural areas; and how roles have adapted to fewer in-person visits and more use of distance technology and ways in which changes are being influenced by regulatory and payment policies; redeployments; furloughs; and layoffs.

Occasional Perturbations in the Scholarly Publishing Realm.

Scientific publications are an important medium for conveying new developments and important breakthroughs. As shown in the items that appear below, the realm in which periodicals operate also may be subjected to steady bouts of alteration.

Reflections on the Evolving World of Periodicals.

Data-Sharing Rule Finalized: Beginning in January 2023, all biomedical researchers newly funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) will be required to share data from their studies or explain why they are unable to do so. The new policy updates a 2003 requirement. Challenges in Achieving Replicability: The replicability of evidence for scientific claims is an important element in achieving scientific progress. Knowledge accumulation depends on reliable past findings to generate new ideas and extensions that can advance understanding. Disappearing Journals: Scholarly journals are supposed to provide a lasting record of science. Over the past two decades, however, 176 open-access journals and many papers appearing in them have disappeared from the Internet. The Conundrum of Academic Publishing: Academic publishing is in flux. Historically, dissemination of research through academic journals has been based on paid library or institutional subscriptions, with most content held behind a paywall. That is now changing with a global call for open access, a model of scholarly communication intended to increase accessibility of research results to the reader.

Worth Its Weight in Gold.

An item of great value may be said to be worth its weight in gold. Some articles that appear in professional journals may rise to that level of acknowledged quality. Certain manuscripts result in authorial fame that steadily increases rather than diminishes with the passage of time. Other papers have a comet-like transitory brilliance that brightens the night intellectual sky, but gradually flame out and lose significance. Another large class encompasses the vast bulk of manuscripts that make it to the publication stage. They acquire little notice at first, but some eventually may be judged successfully as being the equivalent of adding one more brick to the gigantic edifice of existing knowledge about a given topic.

Periodic Upheavals in the Universe of Periodicals.

The universe of scientific periodicals is subject to a constant series of alterations. For example, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) recently has found it necessary to remove some of its reviewers because they either failed to disclose key ties or they breached confidentiality. Gender representation in academia influences research productivity and impact from the perspective of sustainability in women's careers on campuses. A proposed Plan S in the context of open-access publications is a robust topic that continues to attract interest among major journals. More than 20 funders have joined the initiative, which is expected to be launched in 2021. The existence and growth in the number of predatory journals is of much concern. Some observations on each of these matters are as follows.

The Changing Nature of Language.

During the Annual Conference of the Association of Schools of Allied Health Professions (ASAHP) in October 2019, it was announced at the Business Meeting that as of that day the new name would be the Association of Schools Advancing Health Professions, representing the third occasion such a change has occurred since the organization came into existence in 1967. The term allied health has a rich history. Confronted with workforce shortages during the 1960s in professions such as physical therapy, officials at the U.S. Public Health Service decided that a new organization should be created in the private sector to deal effectively with such matters. That decision led to the birth of ASAHP. Initially struggling with what to call this entity, a group of deans and government officials identified the words allied health as a way of distinguishing this new creation from other professions, such as medicine, dentistry, and nursing.

Some Journal Sidelights.

American author Thomas Wolfe's second novel, Time and the River, is a fictionalized autobiography. One interpretation of its title is that it refers to life being swept along as part of the inevitable passage of time. Publications, such as a periodical, may be considered from this same perspective. Ideas begin to germinate in the mind of an author(s) and efforts are undertaken to produce a manuscript that may prove worthy of acceptance as a publication. The process from submission of an article to its subsequent appearance either online or in printed form involves a sweep of events over an extended period of time.

The Road To Publication.

Journals serve as important vehicles for the accumulation and dissemination of knowledge. Advances in health care stem from the results of clinical trials used by clinicians, patients, and policy makers to make informed choices about the benefits and safety of interventions. Sharing the methods and results of all trials has long been recognized as an ethical and scientific imperative by the World Health Organization and the US Food and Drug Administration. Yet, methods and results of completed clinical trials commonly go unreported.

The Protean World of Journal Publications.

Once upon a time not so long ago, the acquisition of new information and knowledge contained in journals occurred at a relatively slow pace. Individual subscribers had to wait for the latest print issue to be delivered by regular mail. Readers not so privileged to enjoy their own personal subscription had to wait until the most recent issue arrived at a college or university library. Even then, extra time was needed to catalogue the periodical and place it on a shelf for readers. Given that there may be only a single copy to meet the needs of multiple readers, the waiting period would be extended further, especially in the era prior to the availability of copying machines. Fast forwarding to the present day, not only are periodicals from all over the globe accessible through libraries at academic institutions, but for some journals, the latest issue even might be dated several months ahead of the current month. This acceleration has been accompanied by other developments that have affected the publications industry. Examples involve journal subscriptions and retraction of articles that occurs.

Some Perspectives Regarding Journal Publishing.

Allied health is a thematically rich domain because it covers a wide range of professions. As such, within any particular discipline, it can be quite challenging to be totally aware of important developments that occur. That situation offers a compelling rationale for choosing reviewers for the Journal of Allied Health who are deemed sufficiently knowledgeable about many specific topics within their respective professions.

Trends in Research and Publication.

Each year, the Journal of Allied Health is successful in attracting approximately 20% of article submissions from other nations. This development is gratifying in many ways because it signifies the utility and importance of obtaining viewpoints from other lands in ways that enhance the understanding of American educators and clinicians about common issues and challenges involving the preparation of a highly competent health workforce. Also discussed are wider trends in research and publishing including "registered reports" and authorship criteria.