Editor's Message

It has now been almost a year since I had the honour of being appointed the acting Editor in Chief (EiC) of the Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health (JPCH). I am the 7th EiC since JPCH was established as the Australian Paediatric Journal in 1965. The last one and a half years was tumultuous, with three EiCs taking the helm within a few short months. The journal's recovery over the last 10 months would not have been possible without the rock-solid foundation built by the previous EiCs and the unrelenting and selfless efforts and support of a (entirely) voluntary editorial board, an army of reviewers the College Journal Committee and the Marketing and Communications team.

The editorial board underwent significant change in 2024. Senior editors were ‘re-classified’ as ‘Section Editors’ to align with their expertise. Some editors who had provided years of generous service to the journal stepped down. Seven section editors and 16 new associate editors were appointed, providing much needed complementary expertise to the editorial board. Currently, the editors cover almost all specialties in paediatrics and hail from 7 countries, including Singapore, Japan, India and China. They bring with them world-leading skills in rapidly developing fields of health care, including global health, evidence synthesis, economics, statistics and ethics.

March 2025 will be the 60th Anniversary of JPCH.

In the first issue in March 1965, Charlotte Anderson, the first editor with Peter Jones, hoped that ‘it (the journal) will help to promote understanding, cooperation and exchange of personnel between countries’ as the voice of Australian paediatricians and South-East Asia. In this issue (Jan 2025), there are manuscripts from 5 Australian states, New Zealand and 10 other countries, covering 12 different specialties, including artificial intelligence and law. Although much has changed in the world and in paediatrics since 1965, I'm proud to say that JPCH continues the aspirations of Dr Anderson and Dr Jones and hope that it's reach and diversity will continue to grow for the next 60 years.

The author declares no conflicts of interest.