THE 40TH ANNIVERSARY YEAR!
When I founded Advances in Nursing Science (ANS) in 1978, I had no idea that the journal would survive to the publication of the 40th volume, much less that I would still have the honor of serving as the journal's Editor! I founded the journal with the unequalled support of Wally Hood with Aspen Publishers, who was among the most pronursing Acquisitions Editors in the nursing publishing business. He worked closely with me and the Aspen production staff to accomplish all the tasks of founding the journal-including the process of forming the journal's identity as a premier scholarly journal in nursing. His influence on the journal persists to this day in many ways, not the least of which is the journal cover that he alone conceptualized and designed. The editorial intent of the journal that Wally and I shared has endured throughout the journal's history-to publish nursing scholarship of the highest quality, challenging the status quo, and providing thought-provoking ideas that open new possibilities for nursing knowledge and practice.
In 2002, the journal was acquired by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins (aka Wolters Kluwer), which continued the traditions established early in the journal's history.* Over the years, ANS has remained stable in terms of intent and quality, despite massive changes in the publishing industry and in modes of production and communication. When ANS started, I was doing all of the editorial work on an IBM Selectric typewriter, telephones were still tethered to a wire, and all correspondence traveled on paper by way of the postal system! The shifts to personal computers, the World Wide Web, and paperless production have had a tremendous (and positive) influence on the "how" of producing the journal, but our fundamental commitment to the best quality of scholarship and challenging ideas has deepened and grown over the years.
In celebration of the 40th volume, the Collections section of the journal Web site has been updated to extend through the year 2010 (http://journals.lww.com/advancesinnursingscience/Pages/collections.aspx?Collecti). The Collections provide links to articles that I have identified as standing the test of time to become particularly significant contributions to the discipline. Each Collection focuses on topics that have emerged from the nature of the articles that we have published over the years. For example, ANS has published some of the most notable articles on nursing ethics, articles that address diverse and sometimes divergent perspectives on nursing ethics and that have prompted the kind of debate that leads to growth and maturity of the discipline. Other collections focus on topics such as Concepts, Philosophy, Critical and Postmodern Scholarship, Feminism, History, Professional Issues, and more!
Our fundamental intent to provide ideas that challenge debate and discussion is now enhanced by the journal blog at https://ansjournalblog.com/-an online resource that provides many "back stories" as authors share information about their articles as they are featured in the journal. An important dimension of the blog is that the journal is no longer only a one-way channel that delivers ideas from authors to readers-now readers can engage in discussion of the ideas that are presented in the pages of the journal!
This first issue of volume 40 focuses on articles that build on works previously published in ANS, bringing current insights and knowledge to bear on paths that are envisioned for the future of the discipline. I hope that these articles, and those to come over the months ahead, will prompt you to join in the discussions initiated in our content as we bring together the past and present to shape the future of nursing!
-Peggy L. Chinn, PhD, RN, FAAN
Editor
* The main effect of this change was a shift in the numbering of the volumes and issues so that each volume spanned a calendar year. As a result volume 25 has only 2 issues (published in September and December 2002), followed by volume 26 with 4 issues published in March, June, September, and December 2003. This bit of trivia accounts for the fact that our 40th year in 2017 does not seem to calculate from the founding date in September 1978! [Context Link]