With the close of 2023, we finish a year-long celebration of our journal’s 75-year history. Celebrating our diamond jubilee gave us an opportunity to look back and honor our accomplishments and consider how to be even better. The anniversary also allowed us to provide our readers with what we hope are meaningful gifts: special articles reviewing our history, a Web site that describes foundational articles from the past 75 years, and a bonus print issue mailed to all American Academy of Pediatrics members summarizing our history to date. Through these gifts we address not only how the journal helped advance the science and practice of pediatrics, but also where we made wrong turns. We also reflect in our 75th anniversary articles and postings on issues of race-based medicine and how that has led to changes in the ways that race and ethnicity are considered and discussed in the journal. We hope you enjoy our special anniversary issue1 and Web site2 that explore the remarkable evolution of our journal over three-quarters of a century.
Now is the time to talk about our 76th year and beyond, and we are excited to share our plans with you. This year we are adding a new section called State-of-the-Art Translational Science Briefs that will appear in the journal’s State-of-the-Art Reviews section. These brief articles highlight exciting advances in foundational science that inform clinical care. Even if you are far removed from research, we believe you will be inspired by the discoveries changing the practice of pediatrics.
Our field continues to benefit from exciting advances related to the prevention of infectious disease. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sets the immunization schedule based on recommendations from the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. We believe pediatricians should understand the recommendations being provided by Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. Therefore, we have begun to publish summaries of their quarterly meetings in our journal. Having access to their deliberations will allow you to understand the rationale for their recommended new changes in clinical practice.
We are now entering an age in which articles about or involving the use of artificial intelligence (AI) are increasing in frequency. We are excited about the role that AI might have in improving the care that we provide, such as helping with more timely diagnosis and personalizing treatment. One place that you will not see AI is as an author of an article in our journal. We support the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors recommendation that “AI tools cannot take responsibility for the accuracy or integrity of a manuscript and, therefore, do not qualify for authorship.”3 Furthermore, as recommended by the Committee on Publication Ethics, authors should disclose the use of AI tools in authorship, data analysis, or image creation in the methods and acknowledgments section of their paper.4 Use of AI should also be noted in the cover letter. Similarly, AI should not be used to generate a review for articles under consideration for publication. We have revised our author5 and reviewer6 instructions to make these points clear.
Building on lessons from the past regarding how race and ethnicity have been considered in our journal, we have also rewritten our author5 and reviewer6 instructions to address how race, ethnicity, gender, and sexuality should be considered. We have also expanded our recommendations around the use of inclusive language, including the use of person-first language and preferred terminology. Recognizing the power of language and its potential for perpetuating inequity, we have a responsibility to ensure that authors use appropriate terminology that promotes health equity.
We are pleased that Pediatrics continues to have a strong social media presence to help disseminate journal content. Our social media activities on Facebook, Instagram, and X (Twitter) along with daily blog postings herald the early release of new articles. If you would like to receive our weekly blog roundup, please subscribe at https://publications.aap.org/my-account/alerts.
We could not publish Pediatrics without strong peer review. We are grateful for those who donate their time and expertise. As we look ahead, we need to ensure that we have a well-prepared pool of peer reviewers. This past year, our editorial board fellow, with the support of the executive editorial board, developed a 6-month mentorship program to teach interested trainees and junior faculty how to review manuscripts. We are now evaluating the impact of the mentorship program on the pilot cohort with plans to expand it. Details about how to participate in the program will be available on our Web site when we are ready to launch the expansion.
As editors, we take pride in the metrics that indicate how the journal is being used by others. We remain the most-cited pediatric journal, with more than 90 000 citations in 2022.7 Regardless of the citation metric, our most important objective is to help improve the care that children and their families receive through dissemination of evidence-based research and policies. To help with this, we are creating an ongoing reader experience survey that will be accessible in the weeks ahead on our Web site and directly at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/HJKTZ53. We look forward to receiving your valuable feedback about ways to improve Pediatrics.
As we say farewell to 2023 and the celebration of our journal’s 75th anniversary, we look forward to the advancements to come in our field and the ongoing improvements in our journal. It is our goal to continue to be your go-to resource for new evidence-based scientific information that will make our next 75 years just as meaningful as the first 75 have been. Here’s to the future of Pediatrics!
All authors conceptualized, drafted, critically reviewed and revised the manuscript, approved the final manuscript as submitted, and agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work.
FUNDING: No external funding.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST DISCLOSURES: All authors receive payment from the American Academy of Pediatrics for roles in the production of Pediatrics.
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