Quality in Primary Care Open Access

Quality has become the watchword of health services throughout the world and primary care is increasingly being seen as central to its achievement.[1] Quality in Primary Care has seen some important developments for the journal over the past year. The key development has been our success in achieving indexation in Medline. This is a tribute to the work of authors and reviewers as well as the journal office, the editorial board and publisher in maintaining and improving the quality of the journal. My particular thanks in this regard go to Janet Andrews, Editorial Assistant for the past two years, who has recently left the journal to pursue a new role in the university.

I am fortunate to have a strong and active editorial board. This year we were delighted towelcome Professor Peter Groenwegen from NIVEL. We have to say goodbye to Professor Peter Szilagyi from Rochester, New York and I would like to thank him for his advice and support.Aswell as our links in theUnited Kingdom, North America and Australia we have become the official journal for the European Forum for Primary Care, chaired by Professor Jan de Maeseneer.[2] We have published a number of position papers of the European Forum which aim to increase discussion and collaboration on primary care management in important areas of care.[3–5] These important associations will continue to foster international dialogue on quality improvement thinking, activity and research.

We have continued with our special issues, guest edited by members of the editorial board of the journal, which have proved to be immensely successful. These included, in the past year issues on ‘Development of Nursing Practice and Scope’ (Guest Editors: Sarah Redsell and Francine Cheater) and ‘Professional Regulation’ (Guest Editors: Brenda Poulton andMaxine Offredy). My thanks go to them for their efforts in supporting the journal and commissioning such excellent articles. This final issue of 2008 is devoted to the theme of ‘Organisational and Educational Interventions for Quality Improvement’ and I am grateful to Keith Stevenson and Richard Baker as Guest Editors for their work in commissioning a number of thought provoking papers from experts in this field. Next year further special issues are planned, in particular, a special issue on ‘Ideas, innovation and advances in Australasia’ edited by Moyez Jiwa.

Most published papers in Quality in Primary Care in 2008 were research papers or short reports (20), but discussion papers (7), articles on quality improvement or clinical governance in action (5) and international exchange (7) continue to feature.We also have regular editorials or guest editorials (17) and features such as patient perspective (4), ‘knowledgeshare’ (4) and quality digest (6).

Altogether we received nearly 90 submissions over the past year, with almost 30% of these coming from countries other than the United Kingdom, including the United States, Mainland Europe, the Middle East and Asia. Of these, excluding commissioned articles and editorials, around 75% were accepted or accepted subject to revision.

Performance figures, which have been published annually in QPC since 2006 have remained healthy for a bimonthly journal. For articles submitted in 2008, the average time (for 67 articles published) was 131 days from submission to publication, Acknowledgements within two days, initial decision 34 days and submission to final decision 58 days.We initially reject around 50% of unsolicited papers, although some of these are published following extensive revision and resubmission.

I would like to personally acknowledge and thank all our authors and reviewers for their work and commitment throughout this year. We look forward to your ongoing support in 2009. A full list of Peer Reviewers is included below. I would like to take this opportunity to wish you, our readers and contributors, every success for 2009.

Reviewers in 2008

Alison Morton

Andrew Spooner

Ann Crosland

Azhar Farooqi

Brenda Poulter

David Bellamy

David Cunningham

Diane Kelly

Ek Tan

Elaine Ball

Elizabeth Madigan

Enric Aragones

Fiona Walter

Francine Cheater

Jane Bethea

Jane Carlisle

Jane Dahlstrom

Janine Janowsky

Jennifer Cleland

Jo Cooke

Jonathan Cape

Jonathan leach

Judy Smith

Kate Guthrie

Katie Coleman

Keith Stevenson

Martin von Fragstein

Maxine Offredy

Moyez Jiwa

Nadeem Qureshi

Neil Cottrell

Nelly Oelke

Nigel Sparrow

Olavo Fernandes

Paul Linsley

Paul Milne

Peter Campion

Peter Groenewegen

Rebecca French

Rebecca Neno

Rhona McMillan

Richard Baker

Richard Hays

Ros Kane

Roy Dobson

Ruth Lewis

Sara Owen

Sarah Redsell

Sue Carr

Susan Johnson

Susan Mclaren

Tracey Sach

Willie Hamilton

Yoshikuni Mizuno

References

1. Siriwardena AN. Creating a qualityhealthcare system for the 21st century. Quality in Primary Care 2008;16:305–7.
2. Aarendonk D and De Maeseneer J. Quality in Primary Care: official journal of the European Forum for Primary Care. Quality in Primary Care 2008;16:145–6.
3. Maxwell M and Pratt R. Prevention and management of depression in primary care in Europe: a holistic model of care and interventions – position paper of the European Forum for Primary Care. Quality in Primary Care 2008; 16:187–96.
4. Maier M, Knopp A, Pusarnig S et al. Diabetes in Europe: role and contribution of primary care – position paper of the European Forum for Primary Care. Quality in Primary Care 2008;16:197–207.
5. Rosenberg M, Kalda R, Kasiulevicius V and Lember M. Management of chronic kidney disease in primary healthcare: position paper of the European Forum for Primary Care. Quality in Primary Care 2008;16:279–94.