Report of the Journal Editor

Journal Statistics

There were 212 manuscripts published in 12 issues of Volume 84 (Table 1). In 2020, 591 manuscripts were submitted to the Journal and 552 underwent peer review. Of these, 173 were accepted for publication, which reflects a 29% acceptance rate.

Our 2020 Clarivate Impact Factor was 2.04. Our 2020 Elsevier CiteScore was 2.4. We were also rated 10^th out of 35 pharmacy journals according to Elsevier’s 2020 abstract and citation database Scopus. The top countries for contributions to the Journal were the United States, Australia, England, Canada, and Qatar. According to Highwire, the Journal’s home page was accessed over 157,000 times. Our social media platforms continue to see an increase in the number of Twitter followers (2,650) and LinkedIn connections (721).

2020 Editorial Team Meetings

The Editorial Team held four meetings in 2020 (March, May, August, and November). During these meetings, the Team reviewed the Journal’s publication schedule, upcoming theme issues, Editorial Manager platform, article processing charges and other fees, advertising and other potential revenue streams, and author instructions and reviewer guidelines. The Team also reviewed the activities of the three Editorial Board task forces, specifically, the revision of the selection criteria for the Rufus A. Lyman Award, plans for future AJPE webinars, and ways to enhance reviewer quality.

2020 Editorial Board Meeting

The Editorial Board met virtually for 1.5 hours on August 10, 2020. Topics that were presented and discussed were recent journal metrics, website, volume and issue schedules, task force goals and activities, highlights from past Editorial Team meetings, the Lyman award, and the top 25 reviewers.

The chairs and liaisons of the three task forces reported on their respective task force charges, activities and proposals. The Article Processing Charge (APC) Task Force provided possible pay/cost scenarios that the Journal could implement to make it more sustainable and provide operational funding to AJPE and AACP should the AACP Board decide to move forward with this proposal. The Webinar Task Force created a list of webinar topics and speakers to invite for future webinars that will be hosted by the Journal. Its first webinar on July 29, 2020, focused on ways to provide high-quality reviews. Associate editor Daniel Malcom and editorial board member Marina Suzuki conducted the webinar, which saw 623 people registering and 328 attending it. That webinar was a success and surpassed AACP webinars that usually only see up to 150 registrants and 100 actual attendees. The Reviewer Task Force proposed ways to improve the quantity of reviewers for the Journal and the quality of reviews being submitted. For the quality component, the task force proposed a reviewer certificate program and a reviewer mentorship program.

The Reviewer Task Force and the Webinar Task Force will continue with their work and progress until July 2021. A third task force, Lyman Award Selection Criteria Task Force, was created and charged with reviewing the current criteria and processes associated with the Lyman award and suggesting ways to improve the criteria and processes.

The Journal welcomed six new members to its Editorial Board: M. Lynn Crismon, The University of Texas at Austin; Radhika Devraj, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville; Curtis G. Jefferson, University of Washington; Anne Kugler, Western University of Health Sciences; Joel Marrs, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus; and Maria M. Thurston, Mercer University. We also recognized the following six individuals retiring from the Editorial Board: Margarita DiVall, Northeastern University; JoLaine Draugalis, The University of Oklahoma; Stuart Haines, The University of Mississippi; Jennifer Marriott, Monash University (Australia); Anna Ratka, St. John Fisher College; and Tyler Rose, Roseman University of Health Sciences. Three Editorial Board members renewed their service for a second term: Jeanne E. Frenzel, North Dakota State University; Abby Kahaleh, Roosevelt University; and Joey Mattingly, University of Maryland.

Theme and Special Issues

Three theme issues were published in 2020: Qualitative Research in Pharmacy Education (January/Issue 1), Arts in Health Professions Education (April/Issue 4), and Graduate Education in Pharmacy Schools and Colleges (May/Issue 5). The Journal thanks the following guest editors who spearheaded these theme issues: Naser Alsharif, Antonio Bush, Claire Anderson, Stuart Haines, Natalie Eddington and Lisa Lebovitz.

In June 2020, the Journal published a special issue entitled “The COVID-19 Pandemic Across the Academy” (Vol. 84, Iss. 6). The Journal thanks AACP and ACPE leaders, Editorial Board and Editorial Team members for contributing to this special issue.

Rufus A. Lyman Award

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 five members appointed by the AACP president and chaired by the Journal editor, reviewed all nominated manuscripts and selected the best paper.

Thirty-five papers from Volume 84 were nominated for the award. The outstanding paper by Jamie Kellar, Elise Paradis, Cees P.M. van der Vleuten, Mirjam G.A. oude Egbrink, and Zubin Austin was titled “A Historical Discourse Analysis of Pharmacist Identity in Pharmacy Education” (Vol. 84, Iss. 9, Article 7864). The Journal editor would like to thank the following individuals for serving on the committee and for their time and hard work in reviewing the nominations, and for reading, evaluating, and ranking the nominated papers to make this award selection: Daniel R. Kennedy, Pramit A. Nadpara, Anastasia M. Rivkin, Prashant Sakharkar, Ashley Woodruff, and Kristin Janke. Information about the Lyman Award can be found at https://www.ajpe.org/content/rufus-lyman-award.

Reviewer Recognition

The Journal is grateful to the 490 individuals who served as reviewers in 2020, most especially to the top five reviewers: Mary Douglass Smith, Naser Alsharif, Kristin Janke, Kimberly Daugherty, and Therese Poirier. The complete list of reviewers is available at https://www.ajpe.org/content/reviewer-recognition.

Thank You

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 of the Journal. The success of the Journal is dependent on the diligent and dedicated efforts of these individuals.