A NEW YEAR is a time for renewal of purpose and fresh commitments to self-improvement. In that spirit, The Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation (JHTR) is introducing new features that have arisen from feedback provided by our readers, as well as new faces, and roles, for the deep pool of expertise we use to guide content.
Tools for Clinical Use
This issue contains the first installment of a new special feature that we hope clinicians in brain injury rehabilitation will find useful. In collaboration with the Center for Outcomes Measurement in Brain Injury (COMBI) at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center in San Jose, California, "Tools for Clinical Use" will appear 3 times per year and feature instruments that can be used in treatment and program evaluation for persons with brain injury. When allowed, copies of instruments will be available on the JHTR Web site. If you are not familiar with the resources available on the COMBI Web site, it is definitely worth a visit and a bookmark. As instrument descriptions are updated on the COMBI Web site, Stephanie Kolakowsky-Hayner and Jerry Wright from Santa Clara Valley will be profiling the instruments for JHTR readers. The Editors of JHTR want to thank Stephanie, Jerry, and colleagues at Santa Clara Valley for their willingness to partner with JHTR. The first instrument featured is the Patient Competency Rating System developed by George Prigatano-see the profile in this issue. We will be interested in your feedback.
TBI in the Military-2012
One of JHTR's most popular recent topical issues addressed traumatic brain injury (TBI) in the military. The Journal has continued to receive numerous manuscripts addressing TBI among members of the military who were injured in combat deployments during the past decade. The current issue is a second installment of TBI in the Military, though it is an "ad hoc" topical issue. All the articles included here were submitted as unsolicited manuscripts (and were subsequently revised and accepted following blinded peer review like all original articles in JHTR). These articles were not solicited as part of a planned topical issue. We felt their common applicability deserved publishing them together in this first issue of 2012.
ePublication of JHTR Articles
JHTR will be following the lead of a number of journals by experimenting with an option for very fast "publication" of articles they have been accepted. We already use "Published Ahead of Print," which puts manuscripts on the journal Web site as soon as they are typeset and proofed. These so called "PAP" articles are picked up by Index Medicus and other search engines, so they are immediately available to the field, even though the citation uses the Web location until the article actually appears in print. When the article eventually appears in print, it is reindexed with its permanent citation. For authors who would like the permanent citation to occur more quickly, and for whom the actual appearance in print is less important than electronic availability, "ePublication" will become an option. These articles will appear in the table of contents of the next issue of JHTR, as will their abstract, but the remainder of the manuscript will only be published online. Everything else will be exactly the same, including the look of the pdf versions distributed electronically. For the author who wants a fast, permanent citation for his or her work, ePublication may be the answer. We will also be doing certain topical content as ePublications only. Look for these in your table of contents.
Emeritus Members of the JHTR Editorial Board
Throughout its history, JHTR has been blessed with a talented and committed Editorial Board. These experts in brain injury rehabilitation have donated their expertise via numerous manuscript reviews, original contributions, and policy input to the editors. However, as careers have matured and become multidimensional, Editorial Board members find it difficult to sustain the same commitment of time to JHTR. Not wanting to lose their knowledge as a resource to the journal, in 2012, we are introducing a new status of Editorial Board participation-Emeritus membership. These individuals have demonstrated many, many years of commitment to JHTR (and are not off the hook yet). The inaugural "class" of Emeritus Members of the JHTR Editorial Board includes Nathan Cope, MD, and Nathan Zasler, MD. On behalf of the editors, publisher, readers, and your fellow Editorial Board members, let me thank you publicly for your service to the journal.
New Members of the JHTR Editorial Board
We are pleased to announce that several distinguished researchers and clinicians have accepted our invitation to join the Editorial Board of JHTR.
Jeffrey J. Bazarian, MD, MPH
University of Rochester School of Medicine, Rochester, New York
Erin Bigler, PhD, ABPP
Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah
Cynthia Braden, MA, CCC-SLP
Craig Hospital, Englewood, Colorado
Keith Cicerone, PhD, ABPP
JFK-Johnson Rehabilitation Institute, Edison, New Jersey
James F. Malec, PhD, ABPP
Indiana University & Rehab Hospital of Indiana, Indianapolis, Indiana
Scott R. Millis, PhD, ABPP, CStat, PStat
Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan
Dawn Neumann, PhD
Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana
Grahame Simpson, MA (Counselling), PhD
Liverpool Hospital, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Rhonda Williams, PhD, ABPP
VA Puget Sound & University of Washington, Seattle, Washington
On behalf of the editors, we thank you for your past service to the Journal and welcome you to the JHTR Editorial Board.
JHTR continues to benefit from an outstanding pool of original manuscripts and a talented cadre of Editorial Board members and Guest Editors who separate the good from the very best. Journal pages are finite, making the editors constantly aware of the trade-off between manuscripts published and those that, consequently, cannot be accommodated. JHTR has attained its highest Impact Factor ever, ranking it second among all journals in the field of rehabilitation. We are committed to continuing to bring our readers and the field the highest-quality knowledge informing care in brain injury rehabilitation.
On behalf of the entire Editorial staff, best wishes for a productive and fulfilling new year.
John D. Corrigan, PhD
Editor-in-Chief