Growth and Progress

Abstract

This final Rehabilitation Oncology issue of 2023 is not only the last this year but also the final issue in which we include any Academy Business such as the President's Perspective, slate of candidates, newly certified Oncologic Physical Therapy Specialists, as well as our regular columns, Research Round-Up and Clinical Conversation. Supporting our efforts to increase the quality of our scientific journal, we are sharpening our focus on the science behind oncologic physical therapy practice. First, a bit of history. Our first issue dates back to 1982 as the Oncology SIG Newsletter, which published news about the petition to the APTA for the founding of the Oncology Section. Early publications focused on a mix of Section news and clinical pearls, as well as reports from the Combined Sections Meeting and the National Conference. While many practicing today may find this difficult to believe, it was only through mailed newsletters that any information about the Section and our profession was communicated. The first scientific report, a case report, titled “The Physical Therapy Management of the Patient With Hodgkin's Disease: A Case Report,”1 was published in 1985. Steve Gudas became “Publications Editor” in June 1990 and formed an editorial board in 1995, at which time the name Rehabilitation Oncology was formally adopted. Under Dr Gudas' guidance, the journal moved from newsletter with editor-reviewed clinical information to a journal with peer-reviewed research. Steve Gudas is recognized as the Founding Editor of Rehabilitation Oncology as a peer-reviewed publication. Following his long tenure as editor, Lucinda “Cindy” Pfalzer took the reins of the editorship in 2013, grew the editorial board, updated editorial policies to align with best publishing practices for biomedical journals, and moved the journal to our current publishing house, Wolters Kluwer. The work by these past editors created a firm foundation for our Academy journal to become a flagship journal of exceptional research focused on oncology rehabilitation. Moving forward, for us to be recognized externally as a high-quality journal, the editorial team and I need to continue to build the journal structure for our work to have high impact. One way to have this external recognition is to be indexed in MEDLINE through the National Library of Medicine. MEDLINE indexing requires that we consistently follow best practices for biomedical journals, subscribe to and implement ethical publication standards, and publish more high-quality research. The first steps in this process, following best practices for biomedical journals including ethical publishing processes, are addressed through the policies and procedures contained in our Instructions for Authors (IFA), as well as by building a solid editorial team. We recently updated our IFA with a focus on proper study reporting, conflict of interest disclosure, identification of authorship responsibilities, and artificial intelligence use—all that align with best practices in biomedical publishing. You may see these updates in published articles going forward. In addition, our editorial team is growing and this year we added Steve Wechsler, PT, PhD, as our Digital Media Editor, Kellee Harper-Hanigan, PT, PhD, as our statistician, and Caroline Speksnijder, PT, MSc, PhD, as our International Editor. But we need to increase the quantity of our high-quality research. To do so, and deliver on our promise to our readership to include more research content, we will be removing the Academy Business news and the columns from the journal to be able to focus solely on scientific evidence for oncology rehabilitation. This transition is the final step in moving Rehabilitation Oncology from a Section newsletter to a full-fledged flagship scientific journal focused on oncology rehabilitation. What happens to our Academy Business? The President's Perspective? The regular columns? Some of these have already transitioned to regular APTA Oncology newsletters delivered to members' inboxes. The slate of candidates and election materials, how to become a board-certified specialist in oncologic rehabilitation and recognition of those specialists, as well as updates in Bylaws, Business Meeting schedules and agendas, and more, is contained both in newsletters and on the Academy Web site. Other content will transition to a new medium. I am working with the Academy leadership on a plan to be able to continue to deliver the President's Perspective, case reports, special interest group (SIG) news, and columns to our members via a new publication that will be published on a quarterly schedule beginning in 2024. Stay tuned for great things to come—more high-quality evidence to improve our practice and positively impact the care given to those with cancer, and an Academy publication geared toward additional useful information for the clinical practice of oncology rehabilitation.