A Message From the Editor in Chief

Dear WestJEM reviewer:

First, thank you for your service to the journal and to the science and the specialty of emergency medicine.

WestJEM is one of only two open-access, MEDLINE-indexed journals in our specialty. As such, we contribute substantially to the dissemination of best practices, and science to the world.

We distribute the journal to more than 15,000 physicians electronically, and 4500 in print. As the specialty grows in a myriad of developing countries, open-access is especially important.

I wanted to take this opportunity to clarify the niche of the journal for you.

As I read reviews, there is an occasional comment to submit a paper elsewhere, so it strikes me that I need to clarify: “What’s WestJEM about?”

In a few words, it’s about SYSTEMS of MEDICINE.

The subtitle: Integrating Emergency Care with POPULATION HEALTH,  is unique among the EM journals. It reflects how medical care is delivered. This includes ED operations, public policy and advocacy, injury prevention, educational innovations, disaster preparedness and response, technology advances in patient care and education.

It is actually easier to state what DOESN’T fit our niche. That is pure clinical studies, for example, that test drug A vs. drug B in condition X.

But I use the example that if someone tests algorithm A vs. algorithm B in the treatment of a population of patients with condition X, then that does fit the journal.

You may know that we have an ongoing relationship with CORD and CDEM (Clerkship Directors in EM) to publish abstracts from the CORD Scientific Assembly, and a special issue on education scholarship. So education certainly fits well with “systems of medicine.”

I hope that helps clarify what we are looking for as you review papers for WestJEM.

Best regards,

Mark Langdorf, MD, MHPE