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APS Bulletin • Volume 9, Number 4, July/August 1999
President's Message
The Journal of Pain Offers New Opportunities for APS
Russell K. Portenoy, MD
The ability to respond creatively to new opportunities is an important measure of a professional society. Recent events should reassure APS members that the Society is succeeding in this regard. Presented with the need to change the direction of the Society’s journal, the APS Board of Directors investigated a series of options and decided to proceed with the development of an entirely new product. The Journal of Pain will replace Pain Forum early next year, and its inauguration is a major and very positive step for the Society. The Journal of Pain will be peer-reviewed and will publish the best basic and clinical pain-related science while retaining the didactic focus that so enlivened its predecessor.
Several unrelated events coalesced to generate new thinking about the type of publication that APS should publish. These events are interesting to recount and demonstrate efforts to actively address the needs of members while responding to changes that influence pain research and clinical practice.
The first event was the decision by Kenneth Casey, MD, to step down as Editor in Chief of Pain Forum. This was met with considerable sadness. APS members owe Dr. Casey, a past president of APS, a profound debt for his truly remarkable accomplishment in creating and editing APS’s first journal. Pain Forum fulfilled many of the needs of an interdisciplinary society dedicated to progress in a highly diverse and rapidly changing field. It offered extremely lucid expositions of controversial areas, highlighted the fundamental link between basic science and clinical events, and provided an opportunity for members to digest commentary from some of the most respected members of the pain community. The format developed by Dr. Casey encouraged critical thinking, respected differences of opinion, and was both provocative and didactic.
Archiving considerations
APS received word that the major indexing service, Index Medicus, had again rejected Pain Forum. Combined with Dr. Casey’s decision, this event compelled the APS Board to reevaluate the journal’s purpose. Pain Forum did not publish original research, and this presumably justified the decision of the major indexing service to reject APS’s reapplication. Although APS will archive the wonderful pieces that have been published in Pain Forum, the articles will not appear in the Index Medicus. Along with the need to identify leadership for the new journal, the recognition that the major interdisciplinary professional society for the study of pain would not have an archived outlet was a major factor in the decision to consider a new direction for the journal.
Other pain journals
Events outside of APS also influenced the decision to implement a new direction for its journal. The American Academy of Pain Medicine (AAPM) recently decided to create a new peer-reviewed journal. This decision was followed by the announcement that the Clinical Journal of Pain, which had served as AAPM’s official journal, would continue to be published and would enter the field as a competing peer-reviewed journal. Although these events reflected complex issues, they also underscored the evolving realities of the pain field. Each year, more science, more sophisticated clinical applications, and more information related to education and public policy emerge. Advances in the field seek expression in publications that present original work.
The APS Board of Directors established a task force to explore options for the journal. Chaired by immediate past president Gerald Gebhart, PhD, the task force first conducted a survey of members. The range of opinions elicited indicated members’ willingness to consider significant changes that would respond to the desire for an archived journal and address the need for a peer-reviewed publication that best reflects the diversity of APS.
The task force also elicited opinions from a consultant and from our publisher. There was a preliminary analysis of the Society’s current contract and the economic implications of a change to a new journal format. The analysis identified no impediments to a new journal.
Initially, the task force discussed the option of joint publication with AAPM. On the surface, this was an attractive option. The overlap between the memberships of APS and AAPM is not complete, and a new journal would have the advantages of a larger subscriber base and less competition. It rapidly became apparent, however, that the goals of the two organizations for their journals did not adequately mesh. Thus, the board decided that such a major change should not be burdened by the uncertainty that these competing goals would surely engender. The risks involved in starting a new APS peer-reviewed journal would be reduced if its development were guided solely by the goals and desires of the organization.
The board’s acceptance of a new journal format led to a series of actions. The board decided to rename the journal, create a new look, and proceed from quarterly publication to more frequent publication as soon as possible. A time line was developed that would begin with the appointment of an editor in chief and would culminate in the publication of the first issue in spring of 2000.
After careful consideration, the board offered the position of editor in chief to Gerald Gebhart, PhD. Dr. Gebhart accepted the position with the understanding that the Journal of Pain will strive to become the preeminent forum for the presentation of original basic and clinical pain research and the discussion of the broad range of issues relevant to the field. Dr. Gebhart has moved with determined speed to fashion a mission statement for the new journal and to appoint editorial advisers. The journal will issue a call for papers in the near future.
The mission statement for the Journal of Pain highlights our aspirations:
The Journal of Pain is a new peer-reviewed scientific journal focused on issues related to pain, including basic and clinical research, patient care, education, and health policy. The Journal has a distinguished editorial board that reflects the broad and interdisciplinary nature of the field. As the official journal of the American Pain Society, The Journal of Pain will provide a forum for basic scientists, clinical researchers, clinicians, and others to publish original research and explore controversies. The application of current research to pain management and the need for further investigation will be highlighted.
The Journal welcomes and encourages submissions from all disciplines including basic science, medical specialties, psychology, nursing, physical therapy, social work, and other related fields. It is the interdisciplinary focus and the high quality of basic science and clinical information demanded by the editorial board that distinguishes the Journal of Pain from others. Expedited publication will be given to submissions with extremely timely content at the discretion of the editor in chief.
The Journal will regularly feature
- Reports of original clinical research
- Reports of original basic research
- Focus articles with subsequent commentaries
- Critical reviews
- Exceptional case studies and clinical notes
In keeping with these goals, Dr. Gebhart has assembled an extraordinary group of editorial advisers. The time is right for APS to offer the highest quality peer-reviewed journal to its members and to the pain field at large. The Journal of Pain will become a great source of pride for our organization.
