Welcome to the first issue of the Journal of Visual Communication in Medicine. Our Journal began as Medical and Biological Illustration in 1953, and became Journal of Audiovisual Media in Medicine in 1978. In its sixth decade, it is now firmly established as the authentic voice of the knowledge, research and opinion that exists within medical illustration. When, in 2004, the UK Government accepted the need for state‐registration of medical illustrators, the Journal's back‐catalogue was crucial for demonstrating how our profession has developed its own corpus of working practices, skills and learning.
The first Editorial in the Journal of Audiovisual Media in Medicine remarked ‘that developments that have taken place in the last decade call now for a new image and a new direction’. Likewise, the Journal of Audiovisual Media in Medicine has been overtaken by history. The phrase ‘audiovisual media’ no longer encompasses the full extent, nor even the central focus, of what medical illustrators do within modern healthcare; nor does it describe the needs and interests of other healthcare professionals. The late Peter Hansell first promoted illustration as a challenge to ‘sheer, unadorned rhetoric’, which overwhelmed medical teaching until the 1950s. Nowadays, illustration is, beyond doubt, a fundamental and irrevocable aspect of modern medicine; but a search for medical information on the Internet would hardly include the word ‘audiovisual’. This is an age when the very notion of medical illustration is being constantly reinvented by developments in technology, in ethical practice, and in political life. Even the definition of the medical illustrator is in flux: on the one hand, state registration and new qualifications circumscribe ever more closely those who are able to do this work; on the other hand, camera‐phones, modems and imaging software‐packages blur the boundaries between those who can and cannot, those who should and should not.
The very first Editorial for Medical and Biological Illustration laid down the challenge to ‘attempt to draw into its pages a concept of the scattered and ever‐widening development of medical and biological illustration in all its aspects’. Journal of Visual Communication in Medicine will continue to address this challenge, and its intended audience remains the same: ‘not only the medical illustration profession but also the teachers, doctors, research workers, writers, publishers and students’. All those who have original research and insightful new ideas may be heard in these pages; all those who have skills and knowledge to communicate to our colleagues may be heard in these pages; and, of course, anyone who has an opinion about medical illustration in the modern era can speak out here. Above all, as our profession continues to flourish and expand, and new skills and new qualifications come to the fore, so new voices will be heard here.
In 2003, the Journal celebrated its fiftieth anniversary, an occasion to celebrate the wisdom and foresight of those who launched it, and the skill and dedication of its many custodians over the years. This year, however, is a time to look forward and consider the future: without this Journal, our profession will have no coherent voice; without the thoughtful contributions of healthcare professionals, there can be no Journal. So now ask yourself whether you are willing to contribute.