Editorial

Welcome to the latest issue of the Journal of Visual Communication in Medicine. As many of you may be aware, we recently ran a survey to find out what our readership wanted from the journal, what we are doing right and what you would like to see more, or less of. We received 111 responses (with 78% of these receiving the journal through their IMI subscription). A thematic analysis of comments was conducted following the method outlined by Braun & Clarke (2006). Two primary themes emerged; ‘Improvements’ (meaning how the journal could be improved) and ‘Paper Submissions’ (in terms of increasing the number of papers submitted to the journal). Each primary theme also had several sub-themes associated with it as follows:

Improvements:

• Easier online access

• Social media use and promotion

• Style/formatting

• Range of topics

• None – good as it is

Paper submissions:

• Time (potential authors don’t feel they have enough to write a paper)

• Not for me (potential authors don’t feel qualified)

• Need ideas

• More support needed

A number of actions points have already been undertaken with more to follow. These include:

Improvements:

Easier online access

• Some IMI members weren’t sure how to access the journal online.

  You can log in through the IMI webpage members section: http://www.imi.org.uk/members The IMI webpage will be being re-launched later this year and we hope to feature the journal more prominently on the home page.

• Requests for more open access papers.

  We are hoping to have one open access paper every two issues. We want to balance IMI member benefits with promoting the journal more widely.

Social media and promotion

• There were numerous positive comments noticing how this has improved.

  We hope to have the next round of author interviews on our blog soon: https://jviscomm.wordpress.com/. You can also follow us on Twitter at @jviscomm and follow us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/Jviscomm/

• Regular calls for papers.

• Improve the journal page on the new IMI webpage, ideally with a link from the homepage.

Style/formatting

• Some comments on making the format/layout more engaging.

  We are speaking with our publishers about embedding 3D models and videos in online papers.

Range of topics

• There were requests for a variety of different papers types and topics including:

  • ○ More articles on clinical photography

  • ○ More articles on medical illustration/3D

  • ○ More practical articles

    As stated in the journals Aims and Scope, we attach equal importance to all aspects of communications media, including: photography and diagnostic imaging; video and multi-dimensional animation; videoconferencing and telemedicine; graphic and web design, medical and forensic art and illustration; multimedia; and printed media. That said, if there is something you would like to see more of, please submit it – or encourage your colleagues to do so!

Paper submissions:

Time (potential authors don’t feel they have enough to write a paper)

• There were numerous comments around not having enough time to write papers.

  I will be giving a presentation at the next IMI conference where I hope to encourage members to write for the journal. However, I also hope to encourage line managers to support their staff in doing so, reminding them that it is a valuable CPD activity.

‘Not for me’ (potential authors don’t feel qualified)

• There were a small number of comments suggesting some of our readers don’t feel able or qualified to write a paper.

  We hope to encourage more of our readers to become contributors, this could be through writing an original research paper or through the gallery, professional development or backwards glance sections. We recently had a feature in IMI news aimed at encouraging more submissions along with the planned conference presentation mentioned above. We are also talking to our publishers about a rolling mentorship programme.

Need ideas/support

• There were a number of comments regarding not knowing what subject to write about and a large number of comments asking for more support when writing and submitting papers.

  In addition to the mentorship scheme mentioned above, myself and the editorial team are always happy to offer advice to potential contributors. You can contact me at http://[email protected]

• There were some comments asking what the incentives are to submit papers.

  You receive 50 free e-prints of your paper to distribute as you wish. In addition, contributing to (and reviewing) the journal is seen as valuable CPD activity, which is important for registration with the Academy for Healthcare Science (AHCS).