Reflecting on 2021 for the Australian Journal of Primary Health

Abstract

The past year has been a difficult one for health services and systems, including primary health care; arguably the most challenging in the post-war era. The COVID-19 pandemic has continued to dominate everyone's lives, and publication of this issue of the Australian Journal of Primary Health (AJPH) coincides with the second anniversary of the second documented case of COVID-19 in a human. This year has been characterised by a shift from 2020s' uncertainty and a lack of knowledge, to a better understanding of how COVID-19 is transmitted, the spread of new variants of concern, a rapid population-wide vaccination rollout, and COVID-19 becoming endemic. Primary health care mobilised on an unprecedented scale, as a workforce and as a system, to respond to these changes. Community-based health services have had an essential role proactively engaging with diverse communities and consumers to encourage testing and vaccination.The past year has also seen significant changes in academic publishing. There has been an emphasis on rapid dissemination of research findings during the pandemic, increasing the prominence of pre-publication manuscripts and reinforcing the need for timely peer review. There has been a significant increase in the volume of manuscripts submitted, including to the AJPH.At the same time, it is more difficult than ever to find peer reviewers for submitted articles. There has been a significant increase in the pressures on people's time, through their paid jobs, but also because of juggling caring responsibilities during multiple lockdowns. Many people have been redeployed to support health systems and organisations to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Australian Government's decision to not provide any financial support to universities during the pandemic has led to thousands of jobs being lost across the sector over the past year, with more losses likely to come. Precarious employment has become even more entrenched and fewer people are in jobs that include service to the profession as part of their roles. This leads to fewer people being able to undertake reviews at the time we need high-quality peer review most.However, there are causes for hope. CSIRO Publishing has considerably extended and expanded its Read & Publish agreements (CAUL 2021; CSIRO Publishing 2021). From next year, AJPH joins these Read & Publish agreements, meaning Open Access publication without author publication charges to researchers at participating institutions. Corresponding authors from these institutions do not need to do anything, as eligibility will be flagged post-acceptance based on their email address or Ringgold ID. With a growing number of agreements in place, we hope this will make a major contribution to enhancing the accessibility of primary healthcare research to researchers, practitioners, and the public.