Future directions for the Bulletin

We are very pleased to present with this issue a refreshed new look for the NSW Public Health Bulletin. This issue is also the first to be published through CSIRO PUBLISHING whose editorial and design team have worked with the Bulletin editorial team to develop this design, as well as the new website. These changes have been informed by surveys of the Bulletin readership, current practice in scientific journal publication and considerations of environmental sustainability.

New features for the publication include:

• An expanded table of contents that will appear as the back page of the issue. Each article title will be accompanied by a one-sentence description of the content.

• Contact details for the corresponding author and capacity for multiple affiliations for authors.

• Updated style of language to be aligned with current scientific usage.

The Bulletin has a new enhanced website located at http://www.publish.csiro.au/journals/phb. The NSW Health website will contain links to this site. There will be a transition period during which both the current Bulletin website and the new website will operate. The new production process will see the PDF and HTML versions of the Bulletin uploaded onto the new website in advance of the distribution of the printed copy.

The website has many new features:

• Readers can subscribe to an email notification system (‘early alert’) for new issues as they are uploaded to the Bulletin’s website. The early alert provides readers with the contents of the issue and links to the articles.

• Reference lists cited by authors in the Bulletin will be linked to each cited paper if that paper is available on the Internet. This facility provides readers with immediate access to the evidence cited by authors.

• A ‘most read’ page to identify the most downloaded papers in the journal.

• A dedicated page for the special issues.

• An annual index of reviewers.

Several new resources have been developed and these are available through the website. For reviewers there is now a ‘reviewer report form’ that will provide a structure for reviewers to provide comments to both the editor and to the authors. This form is currently being piloted and we welcome feedback from reviewers who use it. For authors there are updated guidelines to publishing in the Bulletin. In coming weeks we hope to have a new resource that provides guidance on how to develop easy-to-read graphs and figures, based on the Better Health Graphs publication.¹

Regarding sustainability, the Bulletin will be printed on archival quality chlorine-free paper using vegetable-based inks. The ‘green’ printer selected actively minimises waste through recycling all printing plates, offcut papers, and printing-related chemicals.

CSIRO PUBLISHING will manage the publication of the Bulletin – that is the production of the printed and electronic formats. The Bulletin editorial team assisted by a new Editorial Committee, remains responsible for the strategic direction, the management of the peer-review of articles, the selection of articles for publication, coordination of special issues and the content of the website.

Public health is a complex and evolving field and effective practice requires the integration and use of evidence. We would therefore like to encourage new and existing authors to continue to submit articles that describe their work to the Bulletin. We hope that the new production process will improve the Bulletin’s timeliness, enable authors to reach a wider audience, give messages in the Bulletin greater penetration, and link readers to the broad public health literature. We look forward to receiving your comments about any of these new features.