The early part of 2016 has seen changes to the editorial team of the Scandinavian Journal of Primary Health Care. The former Editor-in-Chief Peter Vedstedt has embarked on new challenges and has vacated his position at the journal. The undersigned has been appointed to the role, and became the first female EiC and also the first from Finland.
The editorial office is now based in Helsinki, at the University of Helsinki. Editorial assistance has also changed hands, with Dorthe Toftdahl Nielsen passing the reigns to Mark Phillips in Helsinki. Mark is an experienced journal editor and language specialist who has quickly got to grips with the journal’s administrative tasks.
I want to express my warm thanks to both Dorthe and Peter for their great work with the journal for the past almost five years. They have developed the journal and its editing processes in many important ways. I also want to wish them good luck in their futures pursuits.
There have also been some changes to the editorial board: The Finns nominated Tuomas Koskela from the University of Tampere as their new National Editor. The Journal also has a new Assistant Editor in Denmark, Anne Møller. Both Anne and Tuomas are experienced general practitioners as well as researchers and their contribution and new insights will be valuable for the journal.
After starting as Editor-in-Chief, I had a Skype meeting with all of the Editors, and heard how the editing goes on in their countries and their ideas for improvement. A conclusion from the round was that there is a lot of enthusiasm, passion and skill in the editorial team. The common motivation for the editors is that they want to pursue general practice in general and its research in particular.
The most important challenge for the journal editing is the shortage of reviewers. Every article is reviewed by at least two peers and finding them takes a lot of time and effort. Not long ago, Jørgen Nexøe described the review process and its challenges in the journal.[Citation1] Reviewing may seem like a tedious task, but many people also find it rewarding. At its best, it is an opportunity to help a colleague. Anyone who has benefited from constructive review comments knows how valuable such a process can be.
To keep the journal running well, our next focus will be on the reviewers. We will do all we can to find the right people to do this job. We will update our archive of reviewers and welcome all suggestions and contributions. We will also contact the Nordic universities to invite new reviewers and to welcome new submissions from them.
The Journal’s core task is to promote general practice research in the Nordic countries.[Citation2,Citation3] Although there are challenges in Nordic primary care, our health care systems function cost-effectively and serve as models for the world. We also aim at promoting interest in general practice as a career.[Citation4] There are a lot of opportunities for general practice research in our countries. The journal continues to assist in publishing the experiences and insights of researchers that are of interest to clinical practitioners.
References
- Nexøe J. As you are a recognized expert in this field, we kindly ask if you would be willing to review this manuscript. Scand J Prim Health Care. 2014;32:147–148.
- Pitkälä K, Eriksson J. Under way to academic primary health care. Scand J Prim Health Care. 2015;33:1–2.
- Liira H, Koskela T, Thulesius H, Pitkälä K. Encouraging primary care research: evaluation of a one-year, doctoral clinical epidemiology research course. Scand J Prim Health Care. 2016;34:89–96.
- Deutsch T, Lippmann S, Frese T, et al. Who wants to become a general practitioner? Student and curriculum factors associated with choosing a GP career – a multivariable analysis with particular consideration of practice-orientated GP courses. Scand J Prim Health Care. 2015;33:47–53.