scholarly journals Striving for equity: An update from the Journal of the Medical Library Association

2021 ◽  
Vol 109 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine G. Akers ◽  
Ellen M. Aaronson ◽  
Kathleen Amos ◽  
Kelsa Bartley ◽  
Alexander J. Carroll ◽  
...  

In 2020, the Journal of the Medical Library Association (JMLA) launched an initiative aimed at providing more equitable opportunities for authors, reviewers, and editorial team members. This editorial provides an update on the steps we have taken thus far to empower authors, increase the diversity of our editorial team, and make equity-minded recommendations to the Medical Library Association. 

2017 ◽  
Vol 105 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine G. Akers, PhD ◽  
Kathleen Amos, MLIS, AHIP

While most issues of the Journal of the Medical Library Association (JMLA) contain one or two case studies, the JMLA editorial team is pleased to note that the current issue contains six case studies, highlighting a wide range of library-driven initiatives to support health sciences research and education.


2021 ◽  
Vol 109 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammadreza Hashemian ◽  
Firoozeh Zare-Farashbandi ◽  
Nikoo Yamani ◽  
Alireza Rahimi ◽  
Peyman Adibi

Objectives: Access to high-quality information improves the quality of patient care, but lack of time and sufficient skills in information seeking can prevent access to information by clinicians. To solve this problem, clinical informationists can provide high-quality, filtered information for clinical team members. This study identified the core competencies that clinical informationists need to effectively fulfill their roles on clinical teams.Methods: Participants were selected purposefully from clinicians and medical librarians. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and analyzed using qualitative content analysis.Results: The authors identified six competencies—communication, research, education and training, domain knowledge, information services, and technology—which together were used to develop a “CREDIT” model of core competencies for clinical informationists.Conclusions: The CREDIT model can be used as criteria for evaluating the performance of clinical informationists as well as for developing and assessing clinical informationist educational programs and curriculums. This article has been approved for the Medical Library Association’s Independent Reading Program.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 298-300
Author(s):  
Jo Mynard ◽  
Keyword(s):  

The introduction gives a brief overview of the contents of issue 12(4) and acknowledge the work of the reviewers and editorial team members in 2020.


Author(s):  
Catherine Boden ◽  
Marie T. Ascher ◽  
Jonathan D. Eldredge

Objectives: The Medical Library Association (MLA) Systematic Review Project aims to conduct systematic reviews to identify the state of knowledge and research gaps for fifteen top-ranked questions in the profession. In 2013, fifteen volunteer-driven teams were recruited to conduct the systematic reviews. The authors investigated the experiences of participants in this large-scale, volunteer-driven approach to answering priority research questions and fostering professional growth among health sciences librarians.Methods: A program evaluation was conducted by inviting MLA Systematic Review Project team members to complete an eleven-item online survey. Multiple-choice and short-answer questions elicited experiences about outputs, successes and challenges, lessons learned, and future directions. Participants were recruited by email, and responses were collected over a two-week period beginning at the end of January 2016.Results: Eighty (8 team leaders, 72 team members) of 198 potential respondents completed the survey. Eighty-four percent of respondents indicated that the MLA Systematic Review Project should be repeated in the future and were interested in participating in another systematic review. Team outputs included journal articles, conference presentations or posters, and sharing via social media. Thematic analysis of the short-answer questions yielded five broad themes: learning and experience, interpersonal (networking), teamwork, outcomes, and barriers.Discussion: A large-scale, volunteer-driven approach to performing systematic reviews shows promise as a model for answering key questions in the profession and demonstrates the value of experiential learning for acquiring synthesis review skills and knowledge. Our project evaluation provides recommendations to optimize this approach.


2020 ◽  
Vol 108 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Reznik-Zellen ◽  
Alexander J. Carroll ◽  
Eileen G. Harrington ◽  
Douglas James Joubert ◽  
Tyler Nix ◽  
...  

Objective: The primary objective of this study was to explore different dimensions of Journal of the Medical Library Association (JMLA) authorship from 2006–2017. Dimensions that were evaluated using coauthorship networks and affiliation data included collaboration, geographical reach, and relationship between Medical Library Association (MLA) member and nonmember authors. A secondary objective was to analyze the practice and practical application of data science skills.Methods: A team of librarians who attended the 2017 Data Science and Visualization Institute used JMLA bibliographic metadata extracted from Scopus, together with select MLA membership data from 2006–2017. Data cleaning, anonymization, analysis, and visualization were done collaboratively by the team members to meet their learning objectives and to produce insights about the nature of collaborative authorship at JMLA.Results: Sixty-nine percent of the 1,351 JMLA authors from 2006–2017 were not MLA members. MLA members were more productive and collaborative, and tended to author articles together. The majority of the authoring institutions in JMLA are based in the United States. Global reach outside of the United States and Canada shows higher authorship in English-speaking countries (e.g., Australia, United Kingdom), as well as in Western Europe and Japan.Conclusions: MLA support of JMLA may benefit a wider network of health information specialists and medical professionals than is reflected in MLA membership. Conducting coauthorship network analyses can create opportunities for health sciences librarians to practice applying emerging data science and data visualization skills.


2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-2
Author(s):  
Bikash Shrestha

Sixteen years! Our own Medical Journal of Shree Birendra Hospital is in the middle of charming teen years now. Yes, it is definitely sweet sixteen! And yes, it has definitely come a long way since its inception and we must congratulate ourselves and feel proud that we are here, and with more zeal to improve and learn. I would like to thank all our readers, authors, reviewers as well as editors and mentors of NepJol for their continuous support and love which has kept the journal alive and kicking for so many years!First of all, we are happy to share some news. We have recently updated our journal guidelines for authors. We have tried to simplify the whole process of submission. We hope that the simpler guidelines will make the authors more comfortable to submit their articles online. We have also been successful in adding many prominent national and international editors to our editorial board. We have added Dr Samir Lamichhane from Maharajgunj Medical Campus, Institute of Medicine, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal (Department of Pharmacology), Dr Manisha Bajracharya from KIST Medical College and Teaching Hospital, Imadole, Lalitpur (Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology), Dr. Barsha Bajracharya from Shree Birendra Hospital, NAIHS, Kathmandu, Nepal (Department of Dental Surgery) as our Editorial Board members. We must consider ourselves very privileged that some reputed academicians have joined our team as international editors. We are extremely honored to have Prof. Dr. Babill Stray-Pederson, University of Oslo, Norway (Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology), Prof. Dr. Deepak Batura from London North West Healthcare NHS, London, UK (Department of Urosurgery), Dr. Dipendra Raj Pandeya from Al Jouf University, Saudi Arabia (Department of Clinical Biochemistry), Dr. Santosh Pandit from Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden (Department of Biology and Biological Engineering) and Dr. Usman Mahboob from Khyber Medical University, Pakistan (Institute of Health Professions Education And Research) as international editors in our team. We are very excited to have such distinguished mentors as our team members. Thank you and welcome to all.With the vigor and enthusiasm of additional editors, we have set some goals for our journal. First and foremost, a journal has to be punctual. We need to maintain the punctuality of our journal. Presently, we have been lagging behind in publication of issues. With two consecutive future publications, we aim to publish further issues on specified time biannually (Jan and July).Secondly, with the guidance and support of additional editors, we hope that our journal would flourish more in the national as well as international field. For this, we expect that we shall be able to involve all the editorial board members in the journal equally and effectively. We are certain that their invaluable contribution would be vital for the progress of our journal. Thirdly, we have initiated steps towards indexing and hope that we shall soon get indexed into reputed indexing services. With better indexing, we believe that the overall scope of our journal will widen and we shall have broader and discerning audience. Fourthly, we aim to collaborate with different organizations and conduct regular training sessions for our authors in scientific manuscript writing. We firmly believe that training is imperative for the authors to improve their writing skills. With better quality of authors, needless to reiterate, we will get better articles and our journal would be at par with any other well-known medical journal that we look up to. But whatever we bring out, without feedback, we-the editorial team-too will not learn, nor grow. I would like to conclude by requesting all our readers, authors, reviewers, editors, as well as mentors to give us feedback and comments, so that we can strive continuously for betterment. Lastly, I would like to congratulate and express our gratitude to the editors who have come on board. Welcome and thank you all once again.


2020 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-7
Author(s):  
Lionel Bercovitch ◽  
Andrea Zaenglein
Keyword(s):  

2020 ◽  
Vol 108 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine G. Akers ◽  
Jill Barr-Walker ◽  
Kathleen Amos

As the premier journal in health sciences librarianship, the Journal of the Medical Library Association (JMLA) continuously strives to publish high-quality work that advances research and practice and to provide irreplaceable value for readers, authors, and reviewers. This editorial reflects on the state of JMLA in 2020 by describing our editorial team and volume of submissions, highlighting recent initiatives that strengthen the journal’s position in the profession, and sharing future plans to enrich JMLA’s content and promote open science. Committed to ending structural racism and other inequities in the field, we also issue an ongoing call for submissions pertaining to social justice and critical perspectives on health sciences librarianship.


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