Twenty years of journal progress
Article Outline
This edition of the journal marks our twentieth year as the professional publication for Australian Critical Care Nursing. So, it is timely that we further evolve the journal through a new publication arrangement with Elsevier. The most notable feature of this arrangement will be the use of electronic media for the submission, evaluation and dissemination of manuscripts in ACC which will increase accessibility and accountability of the publication process. But first allow me to revisit our origins and acknowledge past figures who have contributed so significantly to the journal you have before you today.
Volume 1, number 1 of the Confederation of Australian Critical Care Nurses Journal was published in 1988 under the editorship of Phil Edwards, with the opening remarks from Pam Robinson, then president of the Australian Society of Critical Care Nurses [ASCCN].1 At the time the formation of the “Confederation” was still underway, from the originating organisations of the Clinical Nurse Specialist Association [CNSA] and the ASCCN. The journal represented the resolve of the executive members of the time to form a single representative organisation which started out in the guise of a confederation of state based groups, eventually evolving into the current Australian College of Critical Care Nurses [ACCCN]. The journal in 1988 was an amalgamation of the CNSA Journal and Pulse the ASCCN journal. What set this new journal apart was the move to a peer reviewed academic emphasis [in 1991], rather than a newsletter for both organisations. The call then, as it is today was for members to use the journal as an avenue to communicate on issues and research in critical care clinical practice.
In September 1991, the managing editor of the Confederation journal, Sally Robertson announced in a special edition2 the renaming of the journal to Australian Critical Care. The first official edition to bear the new name was volume 5, number 1. The new name and improved print quality signified the announcement of the single representative Confederation of Australian Critical Care Nurses. By volume 9, the journal had moved to a professional publisher Inkpress International, who later became Cambridge Media, who managed publication until volume 19, number 4. The editorial board developed from a NSW based group, originally founded on purely practical grounds, to a nationally represented and academically focused group with an emphasis on critical care clinical practice.
A new editor, Dr. Sandra Dunn, took on the challenge of moving the journal on as an established professional publication in 1996. In the 1998, this process was facilitated by the production of Critical Times, the official newsletter of ACCCN, allowing content of ACC to become editorially independent and move away from the day to day issues of the college. All the time the journal grew in standing in the international critical care nursing community and the content reflected the research and clinical practice endeavours of Australian critical care nurses. Sandra worked tirelessly to negotiate the demand for an academic publication, at the same time ensuring a journal which appealed to the broad clinical interested of most of our subscribers, the nurses and members of ACCCN.
When I was appointed editor for volume 14, number 1 the journal had reached a point where it was widely regarded both locally and overseas as the voice of professional critical care nursing in Australia. It represented a barometer of the development of nursing in critical care. On the horizon was a whole new world of electronic media, including electronic access to publication, listing on search engines and internet alternatives to traditional paper publication. The submission and review process was also moving to electronic formats in major publications across the world, and it was clear this was the way of the future if ACC was to prosper. So after much deliberation I’m very pleased to present this edition of the journal, twenty years on. Whilst still in paper, the journal now has an electronic base http://ees.elsevier.com/aucc/. Over the coming months back-issues will become available as will online first publication. Authors should now submit their manuscripts via this site. The new arrangements with Elsevier offer many other benefits for ACCCN members including book and journal discounts, but it is the provision of an electronic publication process which has driven this change and I hope will be the successful legacy of my term as editor.
In Australian Critical Care, volume 19, number 4, the abstract on page 146 “Endotracheal suctioning practices of neonatal and paediatric intensive care nurses”, contained an error. The order of authors should be MJ Gordon, DG Tingay, L Johnston, B Copnell.
References
PII: S1036-7314(07)00015-X
doi:10.1016/S1036-7314(07)00015-X
© 2006 Published by Elsevier Inc.
