COLLE G E N E WS
To lead where science goes
Three faculty discuss their roles as editors of professional science journals BY JOE ASHLEY
It’s rare for a nursing college to be the administrative home for three prominent professional journals, but The Ohio State University College of Nursing is exactly that, with the editors-in-chief of three major journals on the faculty. “It’s significant,” Dean Bernadette Melnyk said, “because it speaks to the quality of the institution and gives the college great visibility as an authority in the field.” Melnyk has served as editor-in-chief (EIC) of Worldviews on Evidence-Based Nursing since June, 2013. Melnyk said the publication, launched by the nursing honor society Sigma Theta Tau International in 2004 and published by Wiley, is in its “adolescence” as journals go, “but we have enjoyed tremendous growth in terms of the number of papers submitted and the number of articles downloaded,” she added. Worldviews is ranked 11th out of 116 nursing journals, Melnyk said. “My goal is to be number one.” She has worked on the publication since its founding, serving as one of two associate editors from its launch until her appointment as EIC. “We are the lead journal for evidence-based practice in nursing and healthcare,” she stated, explaining that the journal emphasizes putting into practice the results of the research reported in the publication and includes action tactics in every paper. “We link the research evidence to real-world practice and policy so that what we publish can actually facilitate improvements in healthcare quality and population health outcomes.” A journal’s impact factor reflects impact or importance of the science being published, based on how often the average article in a journal has been cited in other publications in a year’s time. Worldviews has an impact factor of 2.1. “With nursing journals, an impact factor of 2 or above is considered substantial,” Melnyk said. Loren E. Wold, PhD, FAHA, FAPS, director of Biomedical Research and associate professor in the College of 6 | nursing.osu.edu
Nursing, is in his sixth year as editor-in-chief of Life Sciences, an international journal published in print and online twice a month that presents original research emphasizing the molecular, cellular and functional basis of therapy. He was named Life Sciences EIC in 2013 at the age of 38, becoming one of the youngest editors-in-chief in the more than 130-year history of the journal’s publisher, Elsevier. Based in Amsterdam, Elsevier is a leading global publisher of science, technical and health information. Its 20,000 multimedia products include 2,500 scientific journals. Wold’s involvement with Life Sciences began in 2005. He was an associate editor, review editor and executive editor before being named EIC. “It was an honor to be named editor-in-chief, because this is one of the longest-published pharmacology journals, and it meant the publisher trusted me,” Wold said. His record as EIC is impressive. “The submissions have increased from about 700 a year when I became EIC to around 1,800 in 2017,” Wold said, adding that the journal’s impact factor during his tenure has risen from 1.2 to its current level of 2.95. While both Melnyk and Wold have years of experience as editors-in-chief, the position is a new one for Rita Pickler, PhD, RN, FAAN, who became EIC of Nursing Research at the start of 2018. Pickler said she was “thrilled and excited” about her new role at Nursing Research, a position she applied for in 2017 when she learned the previous editor-in-chief was retiring. The 83-page journal, published in print and online every other month by Wolters Kluwer, is one of the oldest and most respected journals serving the nursing profession. Still, Pickler is only the seventh person to serve as EIC in the publication’s 65-year history. “To me, it’s an honor to carry on the tradition of the journal,” she said. “It’s