Lisa A. Fortier DVM, PhD, DACVS
Citation: Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association 261, 3; 10.2460/javma.261.3.299
Lisa A. Fortier DVM, PhD, DACVS
Citation: Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association 261, 3; 10.2460/javma.261.3.299
Lisa A. Fortier DVM, PhD, DACVS
Citation: Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association 261, 3; 10.2460/javma.261.3.299
Dear members and readers,
Some of our most popular manuscript types are What Is Your Diagnosis? and Pathology in Practice. In our surveys, authors and readers consistently describe these as among the most engaging sections of JAVMA, and appropriate for veterinarians from many backgrounds and experience levels. Veterinary faculty encourage their students and early-career veterinarians to jump-start their careers as authors by submitting the most interesting cases they encounter on their rounds. To showcase our readership’s endorsement of these article types, we are proud to relaunch these and the other manuscript types that have traditionally fallen under the Veterinary Medicine Today umbrella.
Manuscripts that fell under the Veterinary Medicine Today category consisted of What Is Your Diagnosis?, What Is Your Neurologic Diagnosis?, Diagnostic Imaging in Veterinary Dental Practice, ECG of the Month, Anesthesiology Case of the Month, Theriogenology Question of the Month, Animal Behavior Case of the Month, and Pathology in Practice. Our editorial team collaborated with each of the parent colleges for these specialties (for example, the American College of Veterinary Pathologists for Pathology in Practice) and contemporized the manuscripts into case-based quizzes consistent with current teaching methods and philosophies. To ensure a submission’s alignment with the mission of its specialty college, each manuscript is reviewed by at least 1 board-certified member of that college.
We have retired the Veterinary Medicine Today label and rebranded the broad category as Clinical Challenges. Individually, the manuscript types have been renamed as follows (in alphabetical order):
Anesthesia Case Assessment
Animal Behavior Case Challenge
Diagnostic Challenge in Dental Imaging
Pathology in Practice
Theriogenology Query
What Is Your Diagnosis?
What Is Your Neurologic Diagnosis?
Last month, I wrote about our new video-only manuscript type, Technical/Tutorial Video, for JAVMA and AJVR, and we similarly encourage videos to be included in Clinical Challenges manuscripts.
This month also sees the return of single-case reports. The journal’s editorial staff recognizes that single-case reports (https://jav.ma/Case-Report) outside the remit of Clinical Challenges are important authorship opportunities for early-career veterinarians and can also identify and bring new diseases or treatments to the attention of the broader veterinary community. We had embargoed submission of single-case reports while we published the backlog of case reports and streamlined our editorial processes in order to decrease our time to publication. As I’ve stated previously, our goal in JAVMA and AJVR is less than 100 days from submission to online-ahead-of-issue publication. I am immensely proud of our Publications staff, and to be able to tell you that in Q3 2022, we surpassed this goal—time from submission to publication was less than 80 days for both journals, including rigorous review.
In brief, we’re ready for single-case report manuscripts again! Please bear in mind, however, that such case reports will be published online only in JAVMA, as specified in our instructions for authors (AJVR is already online only).
You might also notice that the Table of Contents layout has changed. It is now 1 column wide for ease of reading and redesigned by manuscript type, not species. Following the AVMA News section, the new layout will take you through the manuscripts in order of level of evidence, with systematic reviews or meta-analysis leading the way and Clinical Challenges concluding an issue. I encourage you to revisit our journals’ websites to discover not only scientific manuscripts important for your practice, but also unique publishing opportunities offered only by your AVMA journals.
As always, I appreciate your feedback and comments—and your submissions to your journals!
Respectfully,
Dr. Lisa A. Fortier
Editor-in-Chief, JAVMA and AJVR
Division Director of Publications, AVMA
