Milwaukee, WI – Ten years after its first issue, the Journal of Patient-Centered Research and Reviews (JPCRR) continues to flourish and expand its readership. Exceeding 400,000 article downloads since 2014, Advocate Aurora Research Institute’s quarterly academic journal has earned a strong Impact Factor (a measure of how often articles published in the journal are cited by others) of 1.6 and has been indexed in PubMed Central, Directory of Open Access Journals, Google Scholar, Crossref, and Clarivate/Web of Science’s Emerging Sources Citation Index.
“When I joined JPCRR in January, I did so knowing I had enormous shoes to fill,” said John Myers, Managing Editor of the journal.
Editorial Board Member and former Editor-in-Chief Dr. Dennis Baumgardner and Associate Editor and former Managing Editor Joe Grundle transformed JPCRR over the past decade from humble beginnings with neither a website nor submission management software into an internationally recognized, free, open-access medium. The two editors focused the journal’s publications on the burgeoning fields of patient-centered clinical and laboratory research, patient experiences, and best practices in clinical care and medical education.
“Dr. Baumgardner and Joe had the vision and the drive to assemble a fantastic, diverse editorial team with the aim of improving the quality of human health and the care of each individual patient through the medium of an academic journal – not just in the interest of a professional, health care audience but also, as importantly, lay science readers and patients worldwide,” continued Myers. “They embody the name of our publisher as true advocates of patients, and I’m honored to continue and celebrate their legacy, ensuring the journal is committed to advancing health and health equity, always remains free, and is easily accessible to all.”
JPCRR extends this accessibility to early career scholars, some of whom are learning about the academic publication process for the first time, by shepherding them through the journal’s submission process and contributing to their professional aspirations. The journal’s current Editor-in-Chief is Dr. Bruce Morgenstern, a pediatric nephrologist for 40 years and a champion of patient-centered care.
“We’re proudly a learning journal,” Dr. Morgenstern said. “For example, when early career scholars have questions about the peer review process, this is an educational moment. Many editors at other journals may brush these questions aside, but John and I see this as an opportunity to teach about academic publishing, inspire, and reinforce Advocate Health’s commitment to, and partnerships with, educational institutions.”
Dr. Morgenstern continued, “We also are deeply appreciative of the support of Advocate Health and Advocate Aurora Research Institute that allows JPCRR to truly function as a diamond open-access journal. This means that we can avoid article publishing fees charged to prospective authors and can maintain a robust process for the peer review of submitted manuscripts. Articles are published in JPCRR because of their merit and potential interest to our varied readers.”
JPCRR is the official publication of the Health Care Systems Research Network and Advocate Health’s Scientific Day annual conferences. The journal is open to new manuscript submissions of original research, systematic and narrative reviews, quality improvement articles, brief reports, topic synopses, medical education articles, patient-centered essays and creative writing, and patient-written “From the Other Side of the Table” vignettes. For more information, please check out JPCRR’s website, contact the journal at jpcrr@aah.org, and/or follow @JPCRR on X (formerly Twitter).