Port-wine stain and glaucoma in a 29-year-old male

EDITORIAL

Expanding medical editorship

SPMC J Health Care Serv. 2017;3(2):3 ARK: http://n2t.net/ark:/76951/jhcs32c8fe


Alvin S Concha1


1Research and Publication Office, Southern Philippines Medical Center, Bajada, Davao City, Philippines


Correspondence Alvin S Concha, alvinconcha@gmail.com
Received 15 December 2017
Accepted 22 December 2017
Cite as Concha AS. Expanding medical editorship. SPMC J Health Care Serv. 2017;3(2):3. http://n2t.net/ark:/76951/jhcs32c8fe


Communicating systematic inquiry reports, article reviews, and opinions on health care services to different stakeholders is necessary for the effective utilization of newly generated knowledge in the field.1 A journal article is a communication piece. It is a synthesis of existing knowledge, description of an inquiry process, new generated knowledge, and updated arguments—all packaged together as the author’s message to the readers. The editor brokers the interface of the author and the readers. More specifically, the editor ensures that the readers receive the message that the author wants to convey.2 3 A good part of a journal’s success, therefore, relies on the composition of the editorial team and on the editing process.


The present editorial team of the Southern Philippines Medical Center Journal of Health Care Services (SPMC JHCS) is composed of a mix of core and short-term members. Core members include the Editor in Chief, three Associate Editors, two Assistant Editors, and a Managing Editor. Three types of short-term editors—Issue Editors, Article Editors and Editorial Interns—join core editors in the editing process.


We invite at least two Issue Editors every time we start planning for a new journal issue. We make a point of rotating issue editorship among representatives from specialty training departments in SPMC. We think that this scheme provides opportunities for the physicians to acquire skills in medical journal editing and to contribute to the production process of the journal.


When there is no core editorial team member with expertise in the topic of a submitted article, we invite an Article Editor with appropriate expertise. The editing scope of the Article Editor is limited to the assigned article only.


Earlier this year, we received funding from the Department of Science and Technology - Philippine Council for Health Re­search and Development to run our Editorial Internship Program for a year. Under the program, we accept and train students and professionals (Editorial Interns) who are recommended by academic and health institutions within Davao Region to learn editing skills while helping in the production of the journal. Editorial Interns participated in all aspects of the editing process, including communicating with authors and other editors, fact-checking, reanalysis of data, outlining, content editing, copyediting, layouting and proofreading. Typically, one core editor, one short-term editor, and one intern are assigned to work on one article from submission to publication. Starting this issue of the SPMC JHCS, we give recognition to our interns for their editing contribution by mentioning them as co-Article Editors within the articles that they help produce.


Our main editing platform is accessible online. The platform allows storage, retrieval, editing, and sharing of cloud-based files. Editors are also able to communicate via comment, email, and chat within the platform.


Core editors, short-term editors, and interns all interact during our writing workshops (writeshops). Editors either physically attend the writeshops, which take place in a conference room in SPMC, or join the writeshops online. Outside of writeshop time, editors are free to edit articles at their own pace.


We have structured our editorial team and designed our editing process in order to allow the participation of as many stakeholders in health care services as possible. We will continue to explore new ways of incorporating more inclusive editorial practices. We hope that these efforts will eventually translate into the efficient broadening and use of the knowledge base of health care services.




Article source

Submitted


Peer review

Internal


Competing interests

None declared


Access and license

This is an Open Access article licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License, which allows others to share and adapt the work, provided that derivative works bear appropriate citation to this original work and are not used for commercial purposes. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/


References

1. Goldner EM, Jenkins EK, Fischer B. A narrative review of recent developments in knowledge translation and implications for mental health care providers. Can J Psychiatry. 2014 Mar;59(3):160-9.


2. Marcovitch H. What medical journal editing means to me. Mens Sana Monogr. 2008 Jan-Dec;6(1):237-43.


3. What does a medical editor do? Try the test [Internet]. Canada: BioMedical Editor; c2006-2015 [cited 2017 December 15]. Available from: http://www.biomedicaleditor.com/medical_editor.html



Copyright © 2017 AS Concha.
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CONCHA, Alvin S. Expanding medical editorship. SPMC Journal of Health Care Services, [S.l.], v. 3, n. 2, dec. 2017. ISSN 2467-5962. ##plugins.citationFormats.abnt.retrieved##
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Editorial
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