The field of quality is expanding and evolving, and so is AJMQ. To meet authors’ needs, the editorial team at AJMQ decided to expand our submission options to include 9 different types of articles, effective immediately. The changes have already been incorporated into Editorial Manager. The overarching purpose is to make it possible for authors to share their best work in quality with colleagues in the field, using an article type that is best suited to present their work. The author submissions page1 has been updated to reflect the changes described below. Here is a summary of the revised article types. Original Article Original Articles present innovative research or rigorously performed initiatives and analyses addressing health care quality, with generalizable findings or key takeaways. Submissions may address any dimension of quality, including clinical or therapeutic interventions, health promotion, and prevention. To increase the scientific rigor of original articles and better articulate their importance to the field, authors are expected to use Standards for Quality Improvement Reporting Excellence (SQUIRE) 2.0 guidelines2 for reporting quality improvement studies, or equivalent reporting standards as appropriate. Authors must include a boxed summary (2–3 sentences) addressing: (1) what is already known on this topic and (2) what this study adds to the existing literature. Review Article Review Articles may be narrative or systematic and should describe and synthesize recent developments of significance and highlight future directions in health care quality and patient safety. The abstract must include an introduction with the main theme, brief subheadings, and an outline of how this article closes existing gaps in the literature. Brief Report Brief Reports are shorter summaries of original research. Reports must be methodologically sound, clearly presented, and follow SQUIRE 2.0 guidelines when reporting quality improvement studies, or equivalent reporting standards as appropriate. This format is particularly suited for quality improvement studies reporting rapid cycle improvement or a single improvement cycle. Of note, the National Library of Medicine no longer includes brief research reports in PubMed. Quality Improvement Case Study The editorial team is particularly excited to introduce this new article type. Quality Improvement Case Studies report problem-solving for specific key challenges/barriers (eg, leadership, stakeholder perspectives, organizational culture, and toxic workers) encountered in real-world quality improvement efforts. The content should be original, well-written, thoughtfully presented, and must demonstrate depth, intentionality of problem-solving, include relevant research done on the topic, and what other quality improvement professionals can learn from the case. Confidentiality must be maintained, and organizational permission must be obtained as relevant. Through the Human Lens At an individual level, health care quality is deeply personal. Professionals in the quality practice community and those outside this community have poignant stories to tell. Through this article type, the editorial team seeks to publish human narratives that are deeply enriching and have the potential to cast new light on the different dimensions of quality. Commentary, Perspective, and Editorial These article types may seem somewhat similar, but they have important differences for the authors to carefully consider when choosing the article type that best describes their manuscript. Commentary may be opinionated or conceptual, informed by experience and selective literature on any aspect of the science, improvement, or policy related to quality. In contrast, perspectives offer arguments that are thoroughly evidence-based and well supported by research. Perspectives describe a considered view about one or more issues related to patient safety and/or health care quality, propose and support a new hypothesis, or theorize the implications of as-yet unimplemented programs or innovations. Editorials are an invitation-only article intended to accompany high-impact original articles and provide a well-rounded context and future direction for the topic of research or improvement study. Occasionally, an editorial may be published to share the editors’ perspectives. Letter to the Editor Last but not the least, letters to the editor are brief responses to an article that has been published in the journal. The greater diversity of article types is expected to advance the field of quality using qualitative and quantitative data and narratives. Conflicts of Interest Dr Sreeramoju is the Editor-in-Chief of AJMQ.
Pranavi V. Sreeramoju (Sun,) studied this question.