Happy New Year to all!
We at the journal hope that the start has been a good one, especially as we remove the cobwebs made up of festive feelings, cheese and many nights out over the festive period.
As with any start of a new year, it is important to reflect on what has happened and what will hopefully happen. The editorial team wish to continue the good work from last year but at the same time follow through with what has been stated in our recent editorial. Our EIC, Andreas Xyrichis, based on what we now see in terms of evidence and research, proposes that “Our knowledge is being gradually consolidated into a unified field, which I refer to here as Interprofessional Science, a term I chose to denote continuous progress toward: a scientific field of study devoted to advancing pedagogies, applied processes and research methods to promote uptake and evaluation of interprofessional collaborative approaches in health and social care education, practice and research; contributing to patient-centered, quality, safe, sustainable and resilient health systems.”
Additionally, we are looking forward to the publication of a Special Issue on Theories of Power, which is still accepting proposals till February 2020. Please do submit them now and do remember these are proposals for the issue, not solidified or completed research at this point. On top of this, we are getting closer to a Special Issue in collaboration with the NEXUS US National IPE Centre which will be published this year.
Talking of special issues, 2019 saw the delivery of two, each focused on Sub-Saharan Africa and the other on Workforce. We are very proud to see the work published within these and by encouraging further publication from beyond the usual realms of Europe and the US we have seen a continuing trend of global publication. This was encouraged by our late, Distinguished editor Scott Reeves, and continues to this day thanks to the support of our EIC and Editorial Board. As researchers, we all like numbers and 2019 saw a 15% increase in submissions from 55 countries including emerging regions such as Gaza, Kuwait, Indonesia. The map above highlights where submissions have come from over 2019 and it is truly encouraging to see. This has also been reflected in our CiteScore – our latest being 2.29 placing the JIC 39/559 in the General Medicine category.
All of this and more has made 2019 a very a positive year for the Journal and its supporters to reflect upon. We aim to build on this and continue to promote global research and collaboration throughout 2020. I certainly, as do the entire board, hope that we, with your contributions, collaboration and support can further make the Journal a success and importantly continue to promote high quality research from across the globe.