Why is the International Journal of Care Pathways ready for Medline?

Abstract

The growing interest in care pathways and the organization of care processes started with the Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) Crossing the Quality Chasm report in 2001. The IOM suggested organizing care around patient needs and medical conditions, and not around professional groups or operational units. Now 10 years later, there are not only local care process improvement projects worldwide but also large cluster randomized controlled trials on the effect of pathways on patient outcomes available. A first Cochrane report on pathways was published in 2010 and although the effects are described as positive, pathways are complex interventions which make them difficult to understand and analyse. A specific journal on care pathways is not only necessary to support health-care clinicians and managers in their daily search for excellence by publishing project reports based on the SQUIRE guideline, this journal is also needed to support academic discussions on the pathway concept and methods to evaluate pathways within the field of implementation research. The development, standardization and overall change in a care process will not always lead to improvements. As the organization of care processes has a direct impact on the quality of care and patient safety, discussions on its organization, evaluation and follow-up need to be held in specific peer reviewed international journals like the International Journal of Care Pathways. Our aim is to produce a leading international peerreviewed journal, which focuses on the issues of the growing area of implementation research related to care pathways (also known as clinical pathways, critical pathways or integrated care pathways) and the organization of care processes. The journal is the official journal of the European Pathway Association (E-P-A), an international not-for-profit scientific association with members in more than 50 countries worldwide, to support research and knowledge sharing on the organization of care processes. The journal focuses on how pathways and other structured care methodologies affect quality, safety, teamwork and efficiency. It also concentrates on the role of patients, carers, health and social care professionals, managers, policy-makers and stakeholders, including the purchasers and commissioners of services, and those who monitor them for efficiency and effectiveness. This journal includes research papers and case studies on projects and programmes from all over the world. It includes issues relating to the organization of care processes themselves, and to the methodologies and outcomes related to planning, development, implementation, education, training, communication and evaluation. Debate and commentary are also included, to encourage readers to think critically and constructively about the many broad issues surrounding the application, management and evaluation of care processes. The journal highlights different areas of research but also on the general applicability and practical significance, and importance to clinicians and health-care managers. This journal also includes news from the E-P-A (www.E-P-A.org) and other national and international pathway societies and their conference reports. Every paper is submitted online via Manuscript Central and first reviewed by two persons: the Editor-in-Chief (EIC) and an Associate Editor (AE). During a weekly conference call the EIC and AE will decide which papers are accepted for further review. Two independent reviewers are invited by the AE for every paper. Reviewers are selected (1) from the Editorial Board or (2) from the E-P-A international database of care process organization experts. When submitting a paper, the author can suggest two reviewers. A maximum of one of these suggested reviewers will be selected by the AE to review. Reviewers are selected based on their specific knowledge and experience, on their experience in peer review and on the quality of previous reviews. When the two independent reviews are submitted, the AE informs the EIC on the action that can be taken (accept, minor revision, major revision, reject and resubmit, reject). The EIC will make the final decision and will inform the authors on the decision, and forward the feedback of the reviewers. When papers are resubmitted after a major revision, the paper is reviewed in a second loop by two external reviewers. Minor revisions are reviewed by the AE and the EIC. The full review process is outlined in Manuscript Central and the peer review process is evaluated during the Editorial Board meetings. So we think we are ready to go for Medline. The International Journal of Care Pathways is the official scientific journal of the E-P-A (www.E-P-A.org) with an international editorial team from North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia and Africa. E-P-A is an international not–forprofit association with over 1000 members in more than 50 countries worldwide. The E-P-A has a partnership agreement with the Japanese Society of Care Pathways, with more than 3000 members. Members of these associations include health-care researchers, clinicians, managers and policy-makers. The association is an international network of universities and health-care organizations interested in implementation research on the organization of care processes. Since 2010, the Journal has been under new management. This is reflected in the acceptance rate, which has dropped to 38.2%, and in the quality of the papers/articles published. With the new management also came the implementation of the electronic submission system via Manuscript Central in September 2010. This made it possible to monitor the review process more closely and to add a clause declaring that there are no author conflicts of