I'm honored that INS Chief Executive Officer Mary Alexander, editor of the Journal of Infusion Nursing, has asked me to contribute the first in a series of "Perspectives from INS Partners" on the momentous event of the Journal's 40th year in publication. We at Wolters Kluwer, J.B. Lippincott Company at the time, had the privilege of witnessing the launch of the Journal, then known as the National Intravenous Therapy Association Journal (NITA Journal), in 1978.
What an audacious and awesome undertaking! I've read over the editorials from that first year of publication, and I have been reflecting on how much has changed in the organization, publishing, and health care, and how much has stayed the same. Every member was called to action in that first editorial: Contribute to the journal and the profession, "publish or we will not advance the state of our art."1(p11) Subsequent editorials spelled out the many requirements of launching a publication that was representing a new and growing specialty: working with authors, finding qualified reviewers, calling for manuscripts, encouraging scholarship and research. These requirements remain a staple of the Journal's editorial challenge.
In many ways, the evolution of the Journal mirrored nursing as a specialty and INS as a professional organization. During those early years, clinical and research articles mixed with convention abstracts, chapter reports, and other INS news. The topics focused on establishing infusion nursing as a specialty, nursing shortages (highlighted every decade since), and recertification, as well as an alphabet soup of acronyms such as DRGs, AIDS, and HMOs. The Journal and INS leadership recognized their flagship publication needed to aspire to and achieve more, and narrowed their editorial content to scientifically supported articles for clinical nurses, advancing the science and improving patient care and outcomes.
Publishing has changed a great deal in the past 40 years, too. By contrast, the first print journal is believed to have launched in 1665, and publishing pretty much stayed the same for the next 327 years. In 1992, the first online journal launched, and the routine expectations of scholarly publications exploded. As our publishing partner, INS eagerly supported the progression of the Journal along with the market, offering an online version as well as a mobile app, so that members could read the Journal whenever and wherever needed. And Journal content is available not only to INS members, but is read by nurses and clinicians around the globe. In the past 12 months, the Journal's own website (http://www.journalofinfusionnursing.com) was visited more than 90 000 times. In addition, the Journal is available worldwid through Ovid, an aggregating platform available to more than 1.3 million end users, including researchers, faculty members, and clinicians. During the past year, articles from the Journal have been downloaded more than 94 000 times through Ovid, disseminating evidenced-based content and having a positive impact on patient care and improving outcomes on a global scale.
New advances in health care and technology will continue to change and perhaps "disrupt" how we access and interact with content. I have no doubt that INS and the Journal of Infusion Nursing will continue to thrive while fulfilling the mission of that first issue. I am thankful for our partnership with INS and the opportunity to play a role in the Journal so far. Congratulations on 40 years of publishing!
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