Greetings. There has been a lot of "behind-the-scenes" work happening with JCRP in 2019. I want to briefly overview some of these activities. First, About the Journal information found on our website has been updated (https://journals.lww.com/jcrjournal/Pages/aboutthejournal.aspx). As the official Journal of the AACVPR and CACPR, we remain committed to supporting the members of these organizations through work to improve multidisciplinary clinical practice and expand research evidence specific to both cardiovascular and pulmonary rehabilitation. However, I also want to emphasize the "P" in our title as the Journal's scope includes primary prevention of cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases. Second, you will soon notice more Invited Commentaries in the Journal. Although there will be a variety of themes for the Commentaries, primarily they will be focused on critique of a current topic of interest. These Commentaries will present a case for a recommended course of action related to the topic, which will be supported by evidence or logical reasoning. These should prove useful for stimulating discussions with your colleagues and program participants. Third, planning is underway to celebrate the 40th anniversary of JCRP in 2020. One component will be a series of Invited Commentaries which will provide an overview the work of the Journal during this time period. Further, they will review the progress made in enhancing multidisciplinary clinical practice in rehabilitative programs and expanding our evidence base related to the causes, prevention, and treatment of individuals with cardiovascular or pulmonary diseases. Finally, we have continued to make progress updating and improving our processes for managing manuscripts from the time authors submit to receiving a timely decision. This includes shorting the evaluation time period for reviewers, updating our manuscript rating methods to improve the critiques, and updating the Information for Authors guidelines.
I also want to highlight a few of the articles you will find in the 3rd issue of Volume 39. The Invited Review by Ozemek et al focused on exercise interventions for patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). As the review concludes that "the available evidence is more than sufficient for practitioners to provide strong endorsement for patients with PAH to participate in rehabilitation programs," this reading should be of interest to all rehabilitation program directors. Two other reviews addressed the role of forms of exercise that are atypical in the rehabilitative program setting; Guddeti et al evaluated yoga and Cugusi et al critiqued zumba fitness. These forms of exercise, although quite different than what is found in most programs, may certainly appeal to many participants and can produce positive health and well-being outcomes. Another article, by Basen-Engquist et al, reported the value of exercise training in patients with chemotherapy-induced heart failure. These, as well as the other articles in this issue, are well aligned with the JCRP objective to improve multidisciplinary clinical practice and expand research evidence.
I encourage you to share the information with your colleagues and collaborators. A great way to do that is via your social media outlets. Please consider "sharing" a link to the article on the JCRP website to your personal or program's Facebook page or "tweeting" a message about the article on Twitter. I know the authors of these studies would be most grateful for your assistance in helping disseminate their research.
I hope you appreciate the information provided in the articles in this issue and find it useful in either your programming, for your research, or both.
Lenny Kaminsky, PhD, FAACVPR, FACSM, FAHA
Editor-in-Chief
Journal of Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation and Prevention