Improvements in The Journal of Chiropractic Education for 2013

A great deal has changed in the realm of scholarly publishing in recent years. Technology has drastically changed how manuscripts are submitted, peer-reviewed, published, and made accessible to readers.¹  Chiropractic institutions, once principally in North America, now span the globe, necessitating the Journal of Chiropractic Education (JCE) to deliver content that is useful to emerging programs and requiring editorial services necessary to assist authors with publishing in English, which is the standard language of science. Additionally, readers are more selective than ever before, demanding high quality research in an attractive format, that is available instantly in nearly any location – and they want it for free. This editorial introduces developments with the JCE (Fig. 1) that address these challenges. These changes will help the journal fulfill its mission more effectively, which primarily is “to promote excellence in chiropractic education through the publication of research and scholarly articles concerned with educational theory, methods, and content relevant to the practice of chiropractic; to encourage and contribute to the professional development of chiropractic educators; and to recognize their achievements.”

The JCE strives to meet the needs of its audience and has made substantial improvements over the decades. The journal was published first in 1987 in the form of a newsletter. Available for a subscription price of two dollars per issue, it was delivered by mail to a handful of chiropractic faculty members in the continental United States.²  These early pages were printed using an office photocopy machine and some content truly was befitting the newsletter format, such as the inclusion of a crossword puzzle (Fig. 2).³  The JCE has evolved in content, format, and distribution. The contents mainly were commentaries with few data-driven studies.⁴  In recent years, contents have evolved to become high quality educational scholarship across many domains contributed by authors from most chiropractic educational institutions internationally.

The JCE format as a newsletter has been replaced by a style that reflects similar journals in academic healthcare and medicine. Distribution originally was only in print and the journal was still receiving hard-copy manuscripts by postal mail as recently as 2007. With the growth of chiropractic colleges, the JCE needed to reach its international audience and the first JCE website began in 2006. With an online presence, readers from chiropractic programs around the world and from other health care disciplines began accessing the JCE, and the journal became part of a larger dialog in health professions education. However, with the evolution and competition in scientific journal publication, the JCE needed to make some additional changes.

In 2010, the Association of Chiropractic Colleges (ACC) began searching for ways to increase further the quality of the JCE and sustain its presence, making it more accessible and viable in a modern, ever-changing publication environment. The ACC requested an evaluation of publication services that would provide the best possible quality at the best price point. Competitive bids from several publishing companies were requested and reviewed by the ACC Executive Committee. In the end, the ACC made a decision to contract with Brighthall as the new publisher. This action has allowed a series of upgrades and improvements to the journal, while at the same time gaining substantial cost savings. To keep pace with the needs of authors, readers, and technology, we have had to change virtually every system used to produce the journal.

Access to journal content, for readers, reviewers, and authors, is essential. The initial JCE website developed in 2006 allowed a fundamental presence and access to journal content. However, effectiveness in reaching journal constituents necessitated several major improvements in web presence. Beginning in 2013, the journal has a new web site with enhancements to improve access. While the URL remains the same (www.journalchiroed.com), the web site now provides journal content in portable document file (pdf) and full text html formats. In addition, articles that have been accepted for publication and edited are posted to the web site before being assigned to an issue (“online early”), making content available sooner than our old system. Online early papers also are being released to PubMed Central as “in press” publications. Thus, once a manuscript has been accepted for publication, and is in corrected and approved proof format, authors will have their article citable and included in PubMed.

The new web site offers registration for users to sign up for table of contents alerts and RSS feeds that provide journal updates directly to the user. Readers can create a “favorites” list through their registration profile, where favorite or frequently used articles from the journal may be stored. Users also can track citations, receive alerts when a particular work is cited, and export citations using the new web site. In brief, the new web site offers users substantially more functionality on a more stable and reliable platform than the previous one. Most journals require a fee to access content through a subscription or pay-per-view fees. From the time that we initially developed the JCE website in 2006, the JCE has been available electronically at no cost to users and we hope to continue to be able to support this open access tradition.

Web site improvements also include a new online submission and peer review system (www.editorialmanager.com/journalchiroed). This new, practical platform allows authors to submit manuscripts and track papers through to publication. The system guides authors through the submission process with instructive screens for each step of the process. Authors can track their manuscript from initial submission, through review, and then to final publication. For manuscript reviewers, the double-blinded peer-review system is integrated into the electronic processing system, making this a seamless software solution for our most important set of tasks relevant to authors and scholars. The journal also caters to career faculty members through no-fee submissions. Whereas some other journals require a direct or indirect fee to submit manuscripts, the JCE continues to support its authors with a no-fee submission system based on support from the ACC.

Productive scholars are aware that cross–linked references facilitate citation and access to authors' published papers. Within the recent improvements to the journal, all articles published in the JCE now have digital object identifiers (DOI) and the references in each article are linked to their citations. As part of this process, the JCE now is a member of the Publishers International Linking Association, which runs CrossRef, a collaborative system that links citations between publications. This means that JCE articles are now easier than ever to locate and retrieve online, and from the references of other published papers.

In addition to the many upgrades to the infrastructure of the JCE, it was time for a new look to the journal. Beginning in 2013, an updated cover features images from a number of chiropractic institutions. The cover images focus on the human interaction between faculty members and students, and symbolize the true spirit of learning. The evolution of the journal cover (Fig. 3) continues to reflect the importance of active learning in chiropractic education, and preserves the green and silver colors of the ribbons on the hoods of commencement regalia for chiropractic degrees.

A new page design, which is the first update that the layout has had since 1999, aims to provide a more sophisticated style and promote ease of reading. The journal continues to be published in print and electronically, as many authors and readers demand both options. The archived issues go as far back as we have electronic formatting, which is 2006, the year this was first implemented. The archive is searchable and these back issues are included in PubMed. In the future, we hope to make earlier content available on the web site.