Publisher's Note

James Davidson

PP: 003 - 004

Article Text

The conclusion of the tenth volume of Contemporary Nurse is a cause for celebration!

Here is a quick overview of article types and frequencies published over the past five years, 1997 to 2001. You will notice solid growth in the number of feature articles, a dramatic reduction in the number of paid 'Filler' pages, a steady level of clinical practice articles and a reduced number of books received for review.

We are encouraging more clinical research, practice and protocol articles and understand from Nicholas Procter that dozens of books are out for review. A double issue in December 2001 (Volume 11/2-3) is providing many authors with the opportunity to publish in this calendar year. It is also providing Contemporary Nurse with the opportunity to demonstrate that its manuscript backlog has cleared and that efficient reviewing and production systems are now in place, operating effectively through our referees, editorial board, Robyn Lowe and Karen Enkelaar.

To underscore this, each article is this issue carries an 'Accepted' date on its title page. This indicates the date on which the final version of each manuscript, which fully addresses the comments from blind reviews by at least two expert peers, has been received for production. From Volume 12 (March 2002), we shall be publishing 'Received' as well as accepted dates to make the reviewing and revising period also transparent.

The publication of Volume 11/1 moves Contemporary Nurse out of a United Kingdom and United States financial (calendar) year publishing cycle into an Australian financial year publishing cycle. Volumes 11 and 12 (two volumes in six issues) have been announced for July 2001 - June 2002 (Volume 11/1-3 July - December 2001, and Volume 12/1-3 January - June 2002) at an institutional price of A$399.00 including GST; that is, at A$199.50 including GST per volume - this represents a saving of over A$30 per volume on the rate for Volume 10 (A$229.90 incl. GST).

The reasons for moving to two volumes in six issues on an Australian financial year basis are four-fold:

• GST on Australian subscriptions to Contemporary Nurse will now be paid and claimed in the same financial year removing the complexities of cash versus accruals tax accounting over two financial years.
• An eighteen-month backlog of manuscripts inherited from the previous publisher has been critically reviewed and cleared, with the publication of Volume 10 in six months (10/1-2 March 2001 and 10/3-4 June 2001) instead of twelve months.
• Double issues can be published more flexibly to ensure that such backlogs do not recur.
• A bimonthly publication schedule ensures authors that manuscripts are reviewed and published promptly and ensures for subscribers that the information they receive is up to date.

Over the coming months, we shall reflect on the raw data from the survey we conducted in 1998 (Contemporary Nurse 7/2 (June 1998) p. 51), particularly in the light of the results in the above table. While the survey's recommendations remain valid, I would be delighted to hear from each subscriber and author about what you would like to be done to improve the journal. This could be your comments on topic coverage, article types, speed or publication frequency, online or paper format, through Contemporary Nurse conferences, dedicated e-mail forums, a Contemporary Nurse portal, job postings, expatriate news items or possibly something completely different!

Thank you for your continued support of the Contemporary Nurse journal. We look forward to sharing our pride with you in the international recognition it is gaining from the excellence of nursing research, teaching and practice from Australian, New Zealand and Asia Pacific nurses, whom we publish.

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