Report of the Journal Editor

This report is a compilation of activity and statistics for the American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education (AJPE) for 2017 (Volume 81). The Journal is published in electronic, open-access format and housed at www.ajpe.org. The Journal would like to recognize Dr. Frank Romanelli, who now is serving as executive associate editor and welcome Dr. Daniel Malcom, associate editor, to the editorial team. We also would like to thank Dr. Claire Anderson, international associate editor, for her service to the Journal.

There were 195 manuscripts published in 10 issues of Volume 81 (Table 1). In 2017, 686 manuscripts were submitted to the Journal. Of these, 28% were accepted for publication. There were 627 individuals who served as manuscript reviewers in 2017.

The Journal now provides publication ahead of print (PAP), which can be found at https://www.ajpe.org/toc/ajpe/0/0. From August 1 to December 31, 2017, there were 144 manuscripts that were published ahead of print. PAP allows accepted manuscripts to be published online after they have been lightly formatted.

Associate editors and editorial board members were grouped into four task forces each charged with a different project for the Journal. These projects are the following: a review of appendices and how to effectively use them to enhance manuscripts; evaluating the role of book reviews and examining the pros and cons of adding them as a new Journal feature/category; continued enhancement and use of review articles and supplements to increase the number of review article category submissions; and enhancing and evaluating the quality of peer-reviews and the reviewer rating system.

At the July 2017 AACP Annual Meeting held at the Gaylord Opryland in Nashville, the editorial team hosted the third annual Joseph T. DiPiro Excellence in Publishing Workshop. The workshop provided authors an overview of the essentials of excellence when submitting manuscripts to AJPE. The workshop also included breakout sessions during which authors discussed specific issues with the editorial team. Thirty individuals attended the workshop.

Each year, the best paper published in the Journal is recognized with the Rufus A. Lyman Award. The winner is chosen based on utility and significance to pharmacy education, originality, research methodology, and writing style. The Lyman Award Committee, which is appointed by the AACP president and chaired by the Journal editor, selects the top paper. Twenty-six papers from Volume 81 were nominated for the award. The winning article was “Blended Simulation Progress Testing for Assessment of Practice Readiness” by Neal Benedict, Pamela Smithburger, Amy Calabrese Donihi, Philip Empey, Lawrence Kobulinsky, Amy Seybert, Thomas Waters, Scott Drab, John Lutz, Deborah Farkas and Susan Meyer from the School of Pharmacy and the WISER Education and Simulation Facility at the University of Pittsburgh.

The editor remains indebted and thankful for all the associate editors, editorial board members, manuscript reviewers, authors and the AACP Board of Directors and staff for their continued efforts and support. The success of the Journal is dependent on the diligent and dedicated efforts of these individuals.

• © 2018 American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy