The State of the Journal 2018: A Report to Our Readers

Abstract

The editorial team at JHL measures how well we are doing at meeting the needs of our readers in a number of ways, which I will share with you in this editorial. The best way to make this sort of determination is by directly asking each of you, which we would enjoy doing; however, it is not feasible. The ways we evaluate our work and its relevance for our readers include (a) publication metrics (e.g., articles most often read, articles most often cited by others, and author characteristics and their submissions); (b) consulting with our experts, the Editorial Review Board (ERB); and (c) feedback from our readers (e.g., members' survey results, Letters to the Editor, and people who talk with us at conferences or by email). We gather information from each of these sources, review it, and set goals for the journal for the next year. We have completed the process of evaluating 2018 data and have formulated our goals for 2019, which I am sharing with you in this editorial.

The Journal of Human Lactation: A Historical Analysis

“…She envisioned a broader purpose of the Journal in terms of geographic scope, discipline, and methodology. She set about implementing changes that would support a more global authorship, diversify the methodological content, and make it more multidisciplinary (Dodgson, 2018). Her vision is clear in the first editorial as the Journal's new Editor in Chief:…”

“…To facilitate this, I will be seeking submissions from researchers in these fields. (Dodgson, 2016a, p. 199) Guided by feedback from the international ERB and from ILCA membership (Dodgson, 2018), she initiated several new columns in 2017: "Lactation Newsmakers . .…”

“…She envisioned a broader purpose of the Journal in terms of geographic scope, discipline, and methodology. She set about implementing changes that would support a more global authorship, diversify the methodological content, and make it more multidisciplinary (Dodgson, 2018). Her vision is clear in the first editorial as the Journal ’s new Editor in Chief:Our knowledge base has grown phenomenally in every aspect of lactation from the microbiome to the globe, making our transdisciplinary field, which spans most science, social science, and humanities disciplines, one of the most dynamic and diverse areas of knowledge development.…”

“…Guided by feedback from the international ERB and from ILCA membership (Dodgson, 2018), she initiated several new columns in 2017: “Lactation Newsmakers . .…”