美国儿科学会：庆祝《儿科》创刊的75年

Celebrating 75 Years of Innovation in Pediatrics 

Lewis R. First, MD, MS; Alex R. Kemper, MD, MPH, MS

The inaugural issue of Pediatrics was published in 1948. Although the journal has remained steadfast in its mission of helping pediatricians and other child health care clinicians improve outcomes for children and families, the approach it uses to achieve its mission continues to evolve. This special article provides a broad historical overview of changes to the journal, focusing on the last 25 years, including the move to online publication and use of social media, the adoption of new article types, the commitment to transparency, the expansion of the editorial board, and the commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice. These changes ensure that Pediatrics remains timely and relevant for everyone invested in improving child health outcomes.

Topics:child health, editorial board, social media, peer review, transparency

“The scope of Pediatrics is as broad as the specialty itself… The content of the journal is thus intended to encompass the needs of the whole child…physiologic, mental, emotional, and social… in an attractive, interesting, and useful way…”1 

This quote, as timely as it is today, appeared in the inaugural issue of Pediatrics in January 1948, 18 years after the founding of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). It was written by the journal’s first editor-in-chief, Dr Hugh McCulloch, who was a founding member of the American Board of Pediatrics and had served as coeditor of the Journal of Pediatrics before agreeing to serve as editor-in-chief of Pediatrics.2 Articles in that first issue addressed vaccination, public health nursing, a rooming-in unit for newborns and mothers, hospital length of stay for preterm infants, infant feeding, and a state program for improving pediatric health care access by addressing health care financing and loan repayment, topics that remain just as relevant today as they were in 1948.

In this article, we highlight some of the ways that the journal has evolved to help ensure that Pediatrics remains timely and relevant for everyone invested in improving child health outcomes. In 1998, Pediatrics published a supplement highlighting the journal’s first half-century.3 According to a review in that supplement,4 notable articles that appeared from 1948 to 1954 while Dr McCulloch was editor included descriptions of retrolental hyperplasia and its association with supplemental oxygen, a novel approach to exchange transfusion, the first case report of agammaglobulinemia, and fundamental descriptions of cystic fibrosis. Notable publications from 1955 to 1961, during the time of the second editor, Charles D. May, MD, included a case series of what would eventually be recognized as Kawasaki disease and fundamental studies related to kernicterus. Under the third editor, Clement Smith, MD, from 1962 to 1973, notable contributions included the expansion of knowledge about chromosomal disorders and new developments in neonatology, including the etiology and treatment of hyaline membrane disease. From 1973 through 2008, Jerold Lucey, MD, served as editor. By the time of its 50th anniversary in 1998, important articles published under the editorial leadership of Dr Lucey addressed sudden infant death syndrome and apnea, the link between Reye syndrome and aspirin, and the impact of surfactants in preventing respiratory distress syndrome. Since 2009, under editor-in-chief Lewis First, MD, MS, notable contributions include research about the importance of social risk factors and social drivers of health, systemic racism, mental health, innovations in medical and surgical care, and, of course, the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic.

During its 75-year history, the journal’s circulation grew from 2500 subscribers in 1948 to now >69 000 subscribers with >11 million online readers annually. At the end of 1948, Pediatrics had received 290 articles for consideration; now the journal receives >4500 original submissions annually.

Pediatrics has evolved from a monthly print journal to an online publication with continuous release of new articles and a monthly print edition that contains abstracts of articles and full text of commentaries and AAP policy statements. Online publishing started in 1998 to increase the total number of articles that could be published. Initially, Dr Lucey, who introduced the online version of Pediatrics, chose some articles to appear online only, leading to some pushback from authors who saw this as “second class.” However, this quickly changed as authors realized the increase in visibility associated with having their work published online. By 2010, all articles were published online ahead of any print issue and the online material became the journal of record. In addition to facilitating access, online publishing has sped up the time from acceptance to publication and has allowed for continuous publication each weekday, with articles from the next month’s issue released online during the previous month. At the start of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, the editorial board decided to publish critical articles online as soon as possible, even before professional editing and typesetting, allowing for prepublication posting online within 5 working days of article acceptance.

The peer-review process also evolved as the journal advanced. Before 1957, the editorial board conducted all peer review without any formal external assessment. However, by 1957, the number of submitted articles exceeded what the editorial board could review. In that year, there were 87 external peer reviewers. Now Pediatrics relies on >3000 peer reviewers annually.

In 2010, Pediatrics made its debut on Facebook with its own landing page and within a few years had >100 000 followers. Other social media landing sites, such as Twitter and Instagram, quickly followed, alerting thousands of followers to new articles. Instagram also allowed the posting of short videos highlighting new study findings. In 2012, members of the Pediatrics editorial board began posting blogs on the journal’s Web site to share with readers their personal reflections on new study findings concurrently published online.

In 2018, the journal introduced video abstracts for select articles. There are now several hundred 4-minute videos summarizing important findings from key articles. Since 2021, these videos have been collated into a video abstract gallery ( https://videoabstracts.aappublications.org/) , which can be sorted by topic. These videos are important teaching tools and are also of interest to the broader public.

With the popularity of podcasting, the AAP launched Pediatrics On Call in June 2020. These podcasts include author interviews as well as segments featuring Pediatrics editors discussing findings from recently published articles.

At the time of our 50th anniversary in 1998, the editorial board included 31 board-certified pediatricians. In 2009, Dr First and then Deputy Editor Dr Virginia Moyer reorganized the editorial board to designate the executive editorial board, composed of the senior associate editorial board members, who help oversee specific sections of the journal. At the time of the appointment of current Deputy Editor Dr Alex Kemper in 2013, the editorial board was further diversified to include other health professionals who provide care for children (eg, nurses, psychologists) and individuals who can represent the perspective of families and of trainees. The executive editorial board is responsible for selecting new board members annually for those whose term of service is ending. Over the past decade, the executive editorial board has prioritized increasing the diversity of the full editorial board. In 2022, one-half of the editorial board members identify as women and 31% identify as individuals who are underrepresented in medicine. This focus on increasing diversity continues to be a core tenet of the editorial board.

We recognize that we are unable to publish most articles submitted for peer review. With our limited page count and our readers’ limited time to read, we must select those articles that will be most helpful for our readers to improve the care they provide. To accomplish this, the editorial board is committed to transparent peer review and the assessment of manuscript priority. Most articles submitted to Pediatrics undergo external peer review. We hope that this feedback from reviewers will help all authors improve their work, even if it is not published in Pediatrics. Since 2009, members of the editorial board meet virtually each week to make the difficult decisions about which articles are accepted for publication. This process takes several hours and typically includes 5 or more editorial board members and others interested in improving child health outcomes. If you are interested in learning more about the peer-review process, please E-mail pediatricseditorial@aap.org.

In 2016, Pediatrics created a 1-year fellowship program open to students, residents, and fellows in training. The editorial fellow serves on the executive editorial board and participates in all journal activities. The fellow also completes a scholarly project related to the journal’s operation. Past research projects have evaluated gender equity in authorship, author preference for having a fully anonymous peer review process compared with having only anonymous reviewers, and how race has been considered over time in articles published in Pediatrics.

The sections of Pediatrics have changed over the past 75 years to be more responsive to the needs of its readers. The 1998 supplement summarized the first 50 years of content changes. In 2009, the Review section, which previously focused on nonsystematic reviews, was revised to include only systematic reviews and meta-analyses. The section Experience and Reason became Case Reports and was modified to only include case reports and small case series that provide novel insight into disease processes or treatment. In 2010, several new sections were added, including Ethics Rounds, focusing on complex real-world dilemmas in clinical practice; State-of-the-Art Reviews, addressing cutting-edge and novel issues within the broad field of pediatrics; and Features, a rotating section addressing medical student education, global health, history, and essays by members of the Section on Pediatric Trainees. In 2011, a new monthly section titled Quality Reports was added to allow pediatricians to disseminate their quality improvement work.

Although commentaries relating to select published studies have appeared in every issue of Pediatrics since the inaugural issue in 1948, in 2012, a new section, Pediatrics Perspectives, was added to allow authors to share their opinions on relevant concerns facing the field of pediatrics even if they were not related to published studies in that issue. In 2015, readers inquired if the journal would be willing to publish the proceedings of interesting case conferences. This led to Diagnostic Dilemmas and Clinical Reasoning, which features interesting clinical twists and lessons about patients presented by clinicians in a case-conference format. In 2017, the journal began Family Partnerships, which provides a venue for patients or their families together with their health care providers to discuss important clinical issues. This section is overseen by a public member of the executive editorial board who also recruits public members to conduct peer review of articles submitted to this section. In 2019, the editorial board established Advocacy Case Studies in which authors share their advocacy efforts and associated outcomes, with the hope that sharing their successes and lessons learned would lead to the dissemination of advocacy work that could meaningfully improve child and family outcomes. Recognizing the need to offer authors a chance to highlight brief research findings that could lead to more advanced studies, in 2020, Research Briefs were introduced.

A new Features article type, focusing on equity, diversity, inclusion, and justice, was introduced in 2020. Because of the significance of these articles, a new section and article type entitled Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Justice was introduced in 2022. The author guidelines for Pediatrics were also updated in 2022 to emphasize the appropriate use of race and ethnicity in articles. This important update was highlighted in a commentary,5 and the online peer-review process was updated to ensure that authors appropriately explain the use of race and ethnicity in any submitted manuscripts.

To help readers identify articles addressing specific themes and topics of particular interest to journal readers, in 2018, Pediatric Collections was created. There are now 22 collections, covering a variety of topics such as e-cigarettes, medical ethics, toxic stress, and mental health. Over time, the number of collections will continue to grow, and new articles will be added to existing collections.

With so many new sections being added to Pediatrics over the past quarter-century, a look at the table of contents of Pediatrics in 2023 bears little resemblance to the first issue or even an issue from 25 years ago. Unchanging, however, is that peer-reviewed clinical studies remain the centerpiece of each monthly issue.

We are proud of the growth and development of Pediatrics. Through continued innovation in content, online publication, commitment to diversity, use of social media, and the transparency of the editorial process, one could say this is a different journal than the one that existed at the time of our 50th anniversary, the last time there was a focus on the journal’s history. Yet, over all 75 years of its existence, Pediatrics has tried to stay true to the mission of the journal as stated in that first editorial in 1948 by Dr McCulloch. As we look to the future, we are also confident that Pediatrics will continue to publish the highest quality clinical research and related material to help improve how we practice and in doing so, the lives of children and families. Happy 75th Anniversary Pediatrics; here’s to many, many more!

他们还有纪念杯子、包包和衣服。