Advances in Health Sciences Education 1: 1-2, 1996. © 1996 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printedin the Netherlands.
1
From the Editors
The launch of a new journal is an exhilarating event, and I am pleased that I was asked to be a part of this venture. But the inevitable question which arises is "Why another Journal"? A colleague recently informed me that there are about 250,000 academic journals published in the English language, so I guess this is number 250,001. Why, indeed? Depending on how you count them, there are already about five international journals devoted exclusively to medical education, and we have the opportunity to contribute to perhaps hundreds of others in medicine, education, psychology or other social sciences. Perhaps the creation of a new journal was a bit of a whim on the part of your esteemed co-editors, but rest assured that the approach of the publishers (Kluwer) was anything but whimsical. A brief history of the genesis of the journal might help reveal the unique role we hope it will fulfil. It began with negotiations between my co-editor, Henk Schmidt and Kluwer about the possibility of a journal devoted to Problem Based Learning. This led, in due course, to an international survey of folks in medical education, which resulted in overwhelming endorsement of the concept, and provided a major stimulus to further discussions. However, the publishers wisely decided to broaden the mandate, since PBL is a contemporary, but perhaps not an enduring, aspect of the educational landscape (Can you imagine a Journal of Organ System Based Teaching!). We needed a new title, with a broader and more permanent mandate. A beer brainstorm in San Francisco led to the present title (almost). Pulling it apart: - "Advances" has more appeal than retreats. - "Health Sciences Education" was a deliberate choice to recognize that much research in education in the health professions takes place in nursing, physiotherapy, or dentistry schools. While the journals in the field do not actually discriminate against these professions, the term "medical" remains a deterrent. - There was, for a while, a colon and the words "Theory and Practice", but this was deleted for the sake of brevity. Nevertheless, the subtitle does convey the shared concern of the editors with the paucity of good theory based research in education, and our desire to encourage studies which elaborate and test theories, rather than present data. We have several aspirations for this journal. As we already indicated, we would like to encourage articles which develop or build on theories of learning. We would encourage researchers to report on programs of research with multiple converging
2
FROM THE EDrr'ORS
studies (such as appear in the Journal of Experimental Psychology), rather than individual studies. We will try to actively elicit review articles and meta-analyses. Nevertheless, we will not discourage individual studies or opinion pieces. On the "Practice" side, we are interested in studies of various approaches to teaching, learning, and evaluation. We are not, however, particularly interested in simple descriptions of teaching innovations with no evidence of benefit or with results limited to "happiness indices" of student opinion; this need is amply served by other journals in the field. Of course, Problem Based Learning has not entirely been relegated to the back shelf. Given the origins and interests of the present editors, it is safe to assume that we will have a special interest in studies of various aspects of PBL. For our part, we are developing strategies to overcome one of the major problems in the field - the interminable delay between initial submission and eventual publication. We will ask authors to submit electronic versions of text. We will use electronic communication to the utmost to expedite the review process. And we will try to ensure that feedback to authors is valid and informative, not superficial. Now to the first issue. This is a very special issue, and a fitting way to launch a new journal. There are six invited papers in this volume; all are contributions by internationally acknowledged experts in various aspects of health sciences education. These papers grew out of plenary presentations at a conference on problem based learning held at McMaster University in June 1995. Since the intent of the conference was to place PBL in a larger intellectual context, the subject matter of these papers is not restricted to PBL programs; indeed the authors have drawn on multiple sources from business to health care to demonstrate their points. Thus, while all papers consider the specific relevance of the topic at hand - admissions policies, faculty development, interpersonal skills teaching, assessment, small group teaching, program evaluation - to PBL, the implications are far broader, and should be of quite general interest. Finally, we would like to express our hope that you find the journal both interesting and informative. We hope you will consider submitting to the journal. And we would encourage you to communicate with us directly regarding any suggestions you may have for improvement. GEOFF NORMAN
1
From the Editors
The launch of a new journal is an exhilarating event, and I am pleased that I was asked to be a part of this venture. But the inevitable question which arises is "Why another Journal"? A colleague recently informed me that there are about 250,000 academic journals published in the English language, so I guess this is number 250,001. Why, indeed? Depending on how you count them, there are already about five international journals devoted exclusively to medical education, and we have the opportunity to contribute to perhaps hundreds of others in medicine, education, psychology or other social sciences. Perhaps the creation of a new journal was a bit of a whim on the part of your esteemed co-editors, but rest assured that the approach of the publishers (Kluwer) was anything but whimsical. A brief history of the genesis of the journal might help reveal the unique role we hope it will fulfil. It began with negotiations between my co-editor, Henk Schmidt and Kluwer about the possibility of a journal devoted to Problem Based Learning. This led, in due course, to an international survey of folks in medical education, which resulted in overwhelming endorsement of the concept, and provided a major stimulus to further discussions. However, the publishers wisely decided to broaden the mandate, since PBL is a contemporary, but perhaps not an enduring, aspect of the educational landscape (Can you imagine a Journal of Organ System Based Teaching!). We needed a new title, with a broader and more permanent mandate. A beer brainstorm in San Francisco led to the present title (almost). Pulling it apart: - "Advances" has more appeal than retreats. - "Health Sciences Education" was a deliberate choice to recognize that much research in education in the health professions takes place in nursing, physiotherapy, or dentistry schools. While the journals in the field do not actually discriminate against these professions, the term "medical" remains a deterrent. - There was, for a while, a colon and the words "Theory and Practice", but this was deleted for the sake of brevity. Nevertheless, the subtitle does convey the shared concern of the editors with the paucity of good theory based research in education, and our desire to encourage studies which elaborate and test theories, rather than present data. We have several aspirations for this journal. As we already indicated, we would like to encourage articles which develop or build on theories of learning. We would encourage researchers to report on programs of research with multiple converging
2
FROM THE EDrr'ORS
studies (such as appear in the Journal of Experimental Psychology), rather than individual studies. We will try to actively elicit review articles and meta-analyses. Nevertheless, we will not discourage individual studies or opinion pieces. On the "Practice" side, we are interested in studies of various approaches to teaching, learning, and evaluation. We are not, however, particularly interested in simple descriptions of teaching innovations with no evidence of benefit or with results limited to "happiness indices" of student opinion; this need is amply served by other journals in the field. Of course, Problem Based Learning has not entirely been relegated to the back shelf. Given the origins and interests of the present editors, it is safe to assume that we will have a special interest in studies of various aspects of PBL. For our part, we are developing strategies to overcome one of the major problems in the field - the interminable delay between initial submission and eventual publication. We will ask authors to submit electronic versions of text. We will use electronic communication to the utmost to expedite the review process. And we will try to ensure that feedback to authors is valid and informative, not superficial. Now to the first issue. This is a very special issue, and a fitting way to launch a new journal. There are six invited papers in this volume; all are contributions by internationally acknowledged experts in various aspects of health sciences education. These papers grew out of plenary presentations at a conference on problem based learning held at McMaster University in June 1995. Since the intent of the conference was to place PBL in a larger intellectual context, the subject matter of these papers is not restricted to PBL programs; indeed the authors have drawn on multiple sources from business to health care to demonstrate their points. Thus, while all papers consider the specific relevance of the topic at hand - admissions policies, faculty development, interpersonal skills teaching, assessment, small group teaching, program evaluation - to PBL, the implications are far broader, and should be of quite general interest. Finally, we would like to express our hope that you find the journal both interesting and informative. We hope you will consider submitting to the journal. And we would encourage you to communicate with us directly regarding any suggestions you may have for improvement. GEOFF NORMAN
