Dear AVMA Members and Readers,
I hope to meet many of you at AVMA Convention 2022 at the end of this month. Our Social Media Editor, Dr. Sarah Wright, will be there with me to share all the things we are doing to continue to improve the JAVMA and AJVR experience for our readers and authors. We would also love to hear your ideas for ways in which the journals can serve you even better. While at the convention, we will be announcing recipients of the inaugural Journal Awards. We will award six $500 awards each for JAVMA and AJVR authors—2 students, 2 interns, and 2 residents. These new awards are tangible evidence of our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion while promoting the mission of the AVMA and supporting our early-career colleagues.
July will also see the launch of our podcast, “Veterinary Vertex.” Dr. Wright and I are interviewing authors of JAVMA and AJVR articles to bring you behind-the-scenes insights into clinical and research discoveries that get published in our journals. You can get the podcast on a variety of platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more!
There are even more exciting developments in JAVMA and AJVR this month. We are launching a regular new feature: “Spotlight” on a College of Veterinary Medicine accredited by the Council on Education (COE). Starting this month, several COE-accredited Colleges will be featured in JAVMA and AJVR. In JAVMA, each College will share its innovations in the clinical preparation of our next generation of veterinarians, while in AJVR, the Colleges will share their novel research programs that are significantly impacting animal health or welfare. I have had the privilege of reading a few of these “Spotlights” and am impressed with the thoughtful and impactful programs these Colleges have created for teaching and research.
I have had the distinct honor of being the Editor-in-Chief of JAVMA and AJVR and Division Director of Publications for one year now. We are already seeing significant improvements from the numerous changes our team has implemented. We have streamlined our editorial review process, and in the first quarter of 2022, our average time from submission to first decision was 24 days, and from acceptance to online ahead-of-print publication was only 32 days! I am confident that these metrics, combined with our rigorous review process and circulation to over 100,000 readers, are unparalleled in veterinary medicine. We expect all measures of a journal’s success—impact factor, downloads, and social engagement metrics—will rise accordingly.
In this past year, we have also revamped the Associate Editorial Board and the Instructions for Authors; launched a new, state-of-the-art journals website; and reduced the environmental impact of printing the journals by converting AJVR to an online-only, Open Access journal and changing JAVMA’s frequency to once monthly, with a new cover design to further highlight our beautiful artwork. Please rest assured that you will have access to as much content as before—and be sure to watch for the themed Supplement issues we are publishing each year. In April we refreshed JAVMA’s social media, launched AJVR’s social media, and created a LinkedIn account for the journals. Since implementing these changes, we’ve increased JAVMA’s readership by over 2000% and AJVR’s readership by over 200%.
I am enormously grateful to our vibrant Publications Team—and am thankful to the AVMA leadership for embracing the constant change needed to bring these initiatives to life for the benefit of our members, readers, and authors. I hope to see you in Philadelphia, and as always please feel free to reach out to me at lfortier@avma.org.
Respectfully,
Dr. Lisa A. Fortier
Editor-in-Chief, JAVMA and AJVR
Division Director of Publications, AVMA
