AHR Moving forward

Abstract

It is with growing sadness (but with expectations of time for some new activities in my life) that I announce that this is my final issue as editor of Australian Health Review (AHR). The new editor, Dr Gary Day from Griffith University in Queensland, is well suited to take over, with continued support from Dr Deborah Roberts, the Models of Care editor, and from the Editorial Board. Australian Health Review is over 30 years old and has achieved growing recognition both nationally and internationally. It has been a pleasure to have contributed to this excellent journal. The landscape of Australian health policy and management journals has changed over the past few years and further changes, to better meet the needs of authors and readers, are in store for AHR in 2010 and beyond. Over my tenure as editor, with much assistance from Professor Judith Dwyer, Dr Deborah Roberts, Dr Gary Day, Prue Power and the Editorial Board, and the publishing team at the Australasian Medical Publishing Company, we have achieved many milestones. Amalgamation of AHR with other journals will continue to strengthen the Australian presence in international scholarly publications. The online manuscript service has proved an efficient and effective mechanism for authors, reviewers and editors. The number of papers submitted for consideration has continued to grow, with over 100 papers submitted each year, of which about 60% are published. This large number of papers has meant that I am enormously grateful to the AHR reviewers. The 2009 reviewers are acknowledged in this issue (page 696). Thank you for volunteering your precious time to this most important task. The large number of papers has also meant that the page numbers of each issue have crept up to try to ensure authors do not have to wait too long to see their work in print. This year we established the Australian Health Review student paper awards, and in this issue we have published the undergraduate (page 541) and postgraduate (page 549) student award papers. Please ensure you read these excellent papers by Australian students. We have had an impressive set of guest editors who demonstrate the importance of AHR in Australian health policy and management and who enabled the journal to present at the forefront of key developments in these areas. This issue has a wide variety of papers on topics such as health information, health service utilisation, models of care, public health, quality and safety and workforce — areas of critical importance for health policy and management now and into the future. Best wishes for the future. Signing off now, Sandra G Leggat, Editor Australian Health Review.