From 1991 to 1995, I served as a member of this journal's editorial board under the leadership of founding editor Leslie Kole, PA-C. At our board meetings, we worked very hard to shape a journal that would stand the test of time. Instead of the traditional mission statements we are familiar with from business and educational organizations, journals typically operate from a statement of editorial purpose. I recall seeing ours posted on a flip chart at every editorial board meeting to help guide and focus our discussions. It stated, “By publishing original contributions, clinical review articles, research reports, and commentary on PA education, utilization, and impact on the health care delivery system, the Journal of the American Academy of Physician Assistants promotes professional development and continuing education of physician assistants.”1

The PA literature now also includes the Journal of Physician Assistant Education (JPAE), the official publication of the Physician Assistant Education Association. However, the readership of both JAAPA and JPAE consists primarily of the PA community, so it is incumbent upon us as a profession to cast a broader net to reach those who help to shape health professions education, the health workforce, and health regulations and policies. By disseminating information on the PA profession and promulgating our contributions beyond our own literature, we provide visibility that reaches national and international audiences. Although JAAPA serves as the cornerstone publication for the PA profession, our growing influence in the global medical marketplace confirms that we need to reach these wider audiences.

This year recognizes JAAPA's 20th anniversary of successful publication. In reflecting on the Journal's many accomplishments, awards, and improvements over this time, I am drawn to Jim Cawley's words, quoted by Leslie Kole in her first editorial: “‘… our profession is judged in part by the quality and content of the PA literature.'”2 If the quality and content of PA-related publications serve as proxy measures of our success as a profession, how have we fared over the 20- year span of JAAPA? Remarkably, during this period, PAs have successfully published not only in our own PA-focused journals but also in a number of other respected journals.

The importance of publishing PA-focused manuscripts in a range of biomedical journals remains paramount, and the process can begin with something as simple as an e-mail or a telephone call. For example, after conversations with a colleague about the lack of PA representation in major journals, I called a staff senior editor of JAMA to ask why they had not published anything about PAs and the changing health workforce environment. This resulted in an invitation to submit a manuscript for consideration that was accepted for publication.3 A recent Internet search of the ISI Web of KnowledgeSM revealed 31 direct citations of this publication in a broad range of other peer-reviewed articles, thus extending PA visibility well beyond our own journals.4 Similarly, after reading an editorial by the editor of Academic Medicine, I asked him why PAs were not regularly included in health professions education discussions. He replied with an invitation to provide information that resulted in a recent publication on PA education, reaching a much broader audience than our own readership.5

These examples simply illustrate that publishing articles on the PA profession is readily achievable and can help promote the profession through journals with a larger readership than ours. With a number of recent polls reflecting the positive attributes of our profession and consistently high interest from prospective applicants to PA programs, there has never been a better time than now for PAs to help increase our visibility.

In addition to disseminating PA-focused articles in a range of biomedical publications, we must stay abreast of physician-oriented health policy and workforce literature as well. This literature contains inconsistencies in definitions of PAs and their distribution, productivity, classification, and cost-effectiveness. For example, when PAs are classified with chiropractors and acupuncturists, the results include misunderstanding and erroneous assumptions about PA roles and responsibilities.5 In her 1993 keynote address at the 21st annual AAPA conference, then-First Lady Hillary Clinton described PAs as “one answer to the health care crisis.” Publishing on PA-related topics to promote this position is a key factor to our professional development, and I urge you to consider contributing to the body of knowledge on our profession. To reiterate Leslie Kole's statement in her original editorial, “Your involvement, whether it be a clinical article submission, a telephone call to an editorial board member, or a letter to the editor, is essential.”2 JAAPA

P. Eugene Jones, PhD, PA-C, is editor in chief, Journal of Physician Assistant Education, and chair, Department of Physician Assistant Studies, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas.

REFERENCES

1. Information for authors. J Am Acad Phys Asst. 1998;1(1):23A.

2. Kole LA. A new incarnation [editorial]. J Am Acad Phys Asst. 1988;1(1):1-2.

3. Jones PE, Cawley JF. Physician assistants and health system reform. Clinical capabilities, practice activities, and potential roles. JAMA. 1994;271(16):1266-1272.

4. ISI Web of Knowledge. http://portal.isiknowledge.com/portal.cgi/wosInit=Yes&SID=2CaHfFhcDD9@JG@KkNF. Accessed October 1, 2007.

5. Jones PE. Physician assistant education in the United States. Acad Med. 2007;82:882-887.