JWOCN is 32 years old!! With that birthday, I step down after 5 short years, and a new team of Mikel Gray, PhD, and Gary Mawyer, Managing Editor, begin their tenure with this fine journal (Figure 1). It hardly seems possible that my term has concluded. It has been an incredible privilege to serve as your Editor, and I will look back on the role with gratitude for the experience and the opportunities it has provided me both professionally and personally. Not only has the Editor grown-so too has your journal, the Journal of WOCN. New ideas and features have been added, especially the Evidence-Based Report Cards, which continue to be a cornerstone. Key Points and more boxes enhance the visual layout and allow quick emphasis of highlights. We have added more commentaries to manuscripts and have continued to highlight clinical issues with the case studies and Challenges in Practice.
My term was launched in January 2001 by a Special Issue on ostomies edited by the then-Section Editor for Ostomies, Kathy Brown, and reader response to special issues has been positive. We published a wounds Special Issue in July 2003 edited by Dr Barbara Pieper, who was, at the time, Section Editor for wounds. This successful special issue was followed by a similarly successful pediatrics Special Issue, edited by the Pediatric Subgroup in July 2004. In this current issue (November 2005), we have a focus on bariatric issues related to wound, ostomy, and continence care. An upcoming special issue on ostomy care is planned for 2006, which is being guided under the watchful eye of the current Ostomy Section Editor, Jan Colwell. We have started including focused industry-supported supplements spearheaded by the Center for Clinical Investigation and by the Lippincott Williams & Wilkins (LWW) Director of Advertising, Greg Pessagno, and Product Advertising, Robert Reed. The first supplement was a fine review of perineal skin care; the most recent, a comprehensive review of treatment of the overactive bladder.
A critical event in the life of JWOCN was the change in 2004 from the previous publisher to LWW and our present Publisher, Ms Beth Guthy. Ms Guthy and her team have guided the JWOCN editorial board, in consultation with the WOCN Society, to an updated proactive journal that has received major positive responses from the readership in terms of layout, color, and pages. Our next important step is to join the ranks of many other healthcare journals and go online for submissions and reviews. This plan is being actively implemented and should be fully active by January 1, 2006. Authors will now be requested to submit manuscripts via an easy, step-by-step uploading process, and reviewers will be requested to submit their reviews online. Such a step is necessary because of the success of JWOCN. With well more than 60 submissions in 2004 (Figure 2) and an expected continuation of that level, the managing of manuscripts has become unwieldy. Now authors will be able to check on the status of their manuscript online in real time with a click of a mouse, using their journal identification number. The new editor and managing editor are currently learning the new online submission and review process from the seasoned publishing pros at LWW, and I anticipate it will make life a lot easier not only for the incoming editorial team but also all our peer reviewers and authors as well.
Clearly, our Section Editors have played a key role in making JWOCN the success story that it is. I personally would like to take this opportunity to thank Dorothy Doughty, current Section Editor of Wounds; Jan Colwell, current Section Editor of Ostomies; Marta Krissovich, current Section Editor of Continence; Janet Ramundo, current Section Editor of Challenges in Practice; and Joie Whitney, current Section Editor of the Spotlight on Research. But all of us stand on the shoulders of giants, and as such I would like to extend my thanks the previous section editors with whom I had the pleasure of working: Barbara Pieper, Wounds; Kathy Brown, Ostomies; Mary H. Palmer, Continence; and Maureen Hanlon, Challenges in Practice.
The issues currently challenging JWOCN are maintenance of high-quality submissions, encouraging more letters to the editor to enhance scholarly dialogue, and to lobby for registration on the ISI for an impact factor.
I began my first editorial with "The only constant is change." The same holds true 5 years later-indeed change is probably more likely now than previously. I leave JWOCN in the extraordinarily capable hands of previous director of Center for Clinical Investigation and Section Editor of the Evidence Based Report Cards, Dr Mikel Gray, and I thank wholeheartedly all of those who have made this position as fabulous as it was. Under the leadership of Dr Gray, not only will JWOCN continue to reach heights of clinical and academic excellence and be a credit to the WOCN Society, but also it will change, grow, expand, and raise the bar as a premier nursing journal.
Call for Manuscripts: Special Issue on Ostomy Care
We are currently seeking manuscripts for a special issue on care of the person with an ostomy. Topics may include, but are not restricted to: nursing research related to sexuality, adjustment to an ostomy, ethical considerations, specific clinical strategies in preparing a patient for surgery and follow-up in the community; complications related to stomas such as periostomal hernia, pyoderma, prolapse, necrosis, and mucocutaneous fistula; state-of-the-science review of medical management (including pharmacology) of inflammatory bowel disease and colorectal cancer; support groups; nutritional concerns of the patient with inflammatory bowel disease; and case studies and case challenges.
All manuscripts are peer reviewed and submission does not guarantee publication. The planned publication date is September 2006; deadline for manuscripts is December 15, 2005. Please see author information on http://www.jwocnonline.com.