Report of the Journal Editor

This report is a compilation of activity and statistics for the American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education (AJPE) for 2018 (Volume 82). The Journal is published in electronic, open-access format and housed at www.ajpe.org.

There were 166 manuscripts published in 10 issues of Volume 82 (Table 1). In 2018, 583 manuscripts were submitted to the Journal. Of these, 29% were accepted for publication. There were 553 individuals who served as manuscript reviewers in 2018.

To disseminate peer-reviewed research quickly, the Journal provides publication ahead of print (PAP), which can be found at https://www.ajpe.org/toc/ajpe/0/0. From January 1 to December 31, 2018, there were 149 manuscripts that were published ahead of print. PAPs are manuscripts that were accepted and published immediately online within two weeks after they have been accepted and formatted. PAPs have not undergone copyediting and as such, are not considered the final version of a manuscript.

At the July 2018 AACP Annual Meeting in Boston, the editor, associate editors, and staff (ie, editorial team) hosted the fourth annual Joseph T. DiPiro Excellence in Publishing Workshop. The 3-hour workshop provided participants an overview of the essentials skills to successfully publish in AJPE. The workshop included sessions on qualitative and quantitative study designs, peer review, AJPE style, statistics, figures and tables. There were also breakout group sessions on manuscript design and organization and submitting reviews and manuscripts to the Journal during which authors discussed specific issues with the editorial team. Thirty individuals attended the workshop.

In November 2018, the editorial team held its first in-person meeting at the AACP headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, and reviewed the Journal’s current structure, function, and strategic goals for the future. Some of the agenda items that the team discussed during the 2-day meeting included updating the instructions to authors, implementing a technical check/screen for all submitted manuscripts, transitioning to a new website host and strategic planning for the Journal’s future.

Each year, the best paper published in the Journal in the previous year 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 composed of six members appointed by the AACP president and chaired by the Journal editor, reviews all nominated manuscripts and selects the best paper. Twenty-eight papers from Volume 82 were nominated for the award. The winning article is “Assessing Students’ Impressions of the Cultural Awareness of Pharmacy Faculty and Students” by Nicholas G. Popovich, Clara Okorie-Awé, Stephanie Y. Crawford, Fabricio E. Balcazar, Rosalyn P. Vellurattil, Terry W. Moore, and Allison E. Schriever. This paper can be found in Volume 82, Issue 1 of the Journal (https://www.ajpe.org/doi/pdf/10.5688/ajpe6161). The editor would like to thank the following individuals for serving on the committee and for their time and hard work in reading, evaluating and ranking all nominated papers to make this award selection: Neal J. Benedict, Michelle Z. Farland, Amy M. Franks, Leslie A. Hamilton, Lara C. Kerwin, Deepti Vyas, and Frank Romanelli (AJPE executive associate editor). Information about the Lyman Award can be found at https://www.aacp.org/resource/rufus-lyman-award.

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.

• © 2019 American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy