Great ability develops and reveals itself increasingly with every new assignment.
—Baltasar Gracián, 17th century philosopher and writer
When former Diabetes Spectrum Editor-in-Chief Davida F. Kruger contacted me more than 3 years ago to ask if I would serve as an associate editor for the journal, I gratefully accepted the new opportunity both to serve the American Diabetes Association in a new role and to be a part of the wonderful team of associate editors under her leadership. Often when we are asked to serve in a new role, we don't immediately see all the possibilities the role may offer. If I had not agreed to be part of the Diabetes Spectrum editorial team, I would not have had the wonderful opportunity to meet and work with new colleagues, increase my knowledge, improve my skills as a health professional, and now, become editor-in-chief of the journal myself.
My Diabetes Spectrum experience has brought me considerable intellectual and professional growth. Many thanks to Davida for asking me to get involved, for her leadership of the journal, for serving as a mentor to many of us during the past 3 years, and for her ability to be focused and tenacious in all that she does. Her dedication to the profession and to individuals with diabetes is inspiring.
It is with both excitement and trepidation that I take the helm at Diabetes Spectrum. All of the past editors of the journal could be described with the same adjectives I used for Davida: tenacious and focused. The collective vision of these past editors, along with their associate editors and editorial board members, has yielded a consistently excellent,cutting-edge journal that is both evidence-based and practical. It is my privilege to follow in the footsteps of all of our past editors, including Patricia A. Lawrence, RN, MA; Elizabeth A. Walker, DNSc, RN, CDE; Linda M. Siminerio, PhD, RN, CDE; Belinda P. Childs, MN, ARNP, BC-ADM, CDE; and Davida F. Kruger, MSN, APRN-BC, BC-ADM. These thought leaders are an awesome,enthusiastic, talented group, each of whom helped to shape the journal into what it is today. Of course, I would be remiss not to mention and thank Managing Editor Debbie Kendall, who has been a driving force, with these editors, in creating this high-quality journal. I am grateful that Debbie will be continuing on in her role as managing editor, as she has already been a great mentor to me.
As the new editor, I was asked to select eight associate editors to complete my editorial team. In selecting new team members, I tried to choose a diverse group of people representative of various diabetes health care disciplines. Of course, these individuals were also selected because they are all dedicated, intelligent, passionate individuals who have worked to improve the lives of people with diabetes and their families. Our new editorial team includes Eleanor DeArman Kinney, JD, MPH; Patti L. Duprey, MSN, ARNP, CDE;Alison B. Evert, MS, RD, CDE; Virginia A. Lewis, MN, ARNP, FNP, CDE; Peggy Soule Odegard, BS, PharmD, BCPS, CDE; JoAnn Sperl-Hillen, MD; Geralyn R. Spollett, MSN, ANP-BC, CDE; and Carrie S. Swift, MS, RD, BC-ADM, CDE. I thank them for accepting the opportunity to be a part of the team and look forward to learning from and with all of them.
In early November 2008, our new editorial team met to discuss the journal and plan future issues. As a team, we hope to lead you with the same focus and tenacity of our predecessors. We know we have a lot to accomplish in the coming years. In this, our first issue, we chose to publish a series of feature articles on a variety of topics instead of the usual From Research to Practice section, which offers several articles presenting different aspects of a single topic. However, our popular research sections will be back starting with issue 2 of this year. Topics we are planning for the near future include updates on diabetes medications, eating disorders and diabetes,complementary and alternative medicine, depression and diabetes, and diabetes-related oral health issues.
During our meeting, the editorial team also reviewed the current departments within the journal. We decided to bring the Evidence-Based Clinical Decision Making department to a close after this issue and replace it with a new department titled Care Innovations. This new department will provide articles focusing on care models, care tools, and innovations in practice. Look for it starting with the second issue of this year.
Also as a result of discussions at our planning meeting, we will be launching an Internet site to accept journal submissions online later this year, and we are looking into submitting an application for inclusion on the National Library of Medicine's MedLine index. We believe our efforts in these areas will help us continue to produce and maintain high-quality issues of Diabetes Spectrum.
The next 3 years will present a challenging course for our team, but we are enthusiastic about working together to meet the challenges and exceed your expectations for excellence within the covers of each issue. We all appreciate the opportunity to serve you, our readers, during the next few years and will do our best to provide useful, timely information to assist you in daily practice. Please let us know how we're doing and what more we could be doing to meet your diabetes information needs. Please also consider getting involved by writing articles, serving as a guest editor for a research section, or reviewing articles under consideration. You never know what possibilities for personal and professional growth these roles may offer.
