JGME Enters Adolescence: Our First 10 Years

JGME grew out of the former Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) Bulletin, published 3 to 4 times per year for sharing ideas, experiences, and innovations from residency and fellowship programs. With ACGME's transition to competency-based medical education in 2003, seismic changes in graduate medical education (GME) were on the horizon. GME institutions and training programs needed a venue in which to publish their work and learn about new approaches. ACGME leaders understood the importance of disseminating evidence that would support or refute new GME teaching and assessment strategies. With strong leadership from Ingrid Philibert, PhD, Executive Managing Editor, and guest editors, the first issue was launched in September 2009. ACGME Board and Committee members with expertise in medical education and publication were recruited to form the Journal Oversight Committee (JOC), for oversight of journal mission, scope, and expansions. In 2010, the JOC recruited an editor-in-chief, who in turn recruited associate editors with GME teaching experience and educational research skills from a variety of specialties, geographic locales, and seniority levels. The inaugural editors were “teachers in the trenches” who brought enthusiasm as well as questioning attitudes, and understood the need for scholarly evidence to inform educators' practice. The first editors also shared an explorer mentality, necessary for creating an entirely new journal. Reviewers were recruited, article categories created and defined, and a lively conversation around GME commenced—a conversation that continues today.

As the JGME Editorial Board increased in size and diversity, the practical teaching orientation of the independent editorial board became increasingly clear (table 1). A 2-page “Rip Out” article category for how-to strategies pertinent to educators and researchers emerged in 2011. From 2011 onward, JGME sponsored numerous educational sessions at national and international meetings with the goal of educating and inspiring authors, reviewers, and, most important, readers (box 1). Venues for these sessions included annual meetings of the ACGME, International Conference on Residency Education (ICRE), Association of Medical Educators of Europe (AMEE), Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), Association of Independent Academic Medical Centers (AIAMC), Association of Program Directors in Surgery/Association of Surgical Educators, American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine (AACOM), and other groups.

To highlight the work of promising education scholars, in 2013, the journal created the video series Spotlight on Authors for each issue, in which lead authors of articles discussed their work. The following year we added a social media presence on Twitter (@JournalofGME) and LinkedIn and an annual short category for novel interventions that had been implemented successfully—New Ideas—which continues to draw a large number of submissions (figure 1).

As JGME grew, it became clear that we needed space for collections of special articles of strong interest to GME institutions and faculty. In 2013, the journal produced the first supplement, which comprised articles describing the development of and evidence supporting the first specialty milestones in the ACGME's Next Accreditation System. Five supplement collections have followed this initial effort, which provide critical data to GME leaders and educators (box 2). Overall, we are delighted to see that the JGME's most downloaded articles include those from early issues as well as all submission categories (table 1 and provided as online supplemental material).

With increasing numbers of submissions and issues per year (figure 2), deputy editor positions were created in 2014. Editorial board expansion included the addition of resident editors in 2012, who have contributed greatly to the mix of perspectives, priorities, and personalities that form our independent editorial board. This board remains an activist board, in which editors invite reviewers, adjudicate reviewer feedback, render decisions, and participate in all content and policy decisions (table 2).

To celebrate and enhance the understanding of JGME's next 10 years, each issue published in the coming year will feature articles peering into the future of GME, medical education research, and dissemination of new evidence through publication and other venues. The journal will highlight these topics in podcasts to further stimulate creative ideas from readers and listeners. The journal's New Ideas category this year will feature potential “futurist” innovations that might, possibly, become part of educators' playbooks over time. We hope you find these topics inspiring and enlightening, and we look forward to hearing your thoughts. Happy Birthday, Journal of Graduate Medical Education!