Celebrating Veterinary Research: Innovations, Gratitude, and a Look to the Future

Dr. Lisa Fortier and Nick DeLuca join us to celebrate the remarkable strides made by JAVMA and AJVR. As self-published journals in the scientific community, we've curated an impressive array of 17 virtual collections that have revolutionized access to cutting-edge veterinary topics. Not only did we implement sustainable packaging for journal deliveries, but we've also taken great strides in enhancing the author experience—ensuring our journals remain the go-to place for top-tier veterinary research. With the promise of even more cutting-edge veterinary content and strategic advancements, our episode sheds light on how we're reshaping veterinary literature.

In the spirit of the holiday season, the warmth of gratitude pervades our discussion, thanking not only our guests but also our listeners for their invaluable engagement. Co-host and Editor-in-Chief Lisa extends a heartfelt invitation to join the conversation through our upcoming readership survey. But the dialogue doesn't end there; dive into Lisa's December editorial for a detailed account of JAVMA and AJVR's 2023 accomplishments and take a moment to leave us your thoughts. Your voice is the catalyst that propels this podcast forward, and we're listening with keen ears to ensure that our content continues to serve the veterinary community, which we are so proud to be a part of.

Lisa's December editorial: https://doi.org/10.2460/ajvr.23.12.editorial

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

You are listening to Veterinary Vertex, a podcast of the AVMA journals. In this episode, I have the honor of discussing our 2023 journal achievements and our 2024 goals with editor in chief Lisa Fortier, and managing editor Nick DeLuca.

Speaker 2: 0:19

Thanks for having me, Sarah.

Speaker 3: 0:22

Great to be here, Sarah. Good to see you, Lisa.

Speaker 1: 0:25

Great to have you both, so let's dive right in. Lisa, you're here. This is our December editorial. Provides an overview of our 2023 accomplishments. Can you share with our listeners a few highlights from this past year?

Speaker 2: 0:38

Yeah, thanks, sarah. We have a fabulous team, not only in the Publications division, but working closely with the entire AVMA staff, to really bring our readers and our authors unique experiences. We're still self published, unlike most journals, most scientific journals, so we can be really nimble and respond to what our authors and reviewers want, and that's really fun. So, from a reader perspective, some of the things I'd like to point out are the specialized content that we curate for you as readers. For example, I think, sarah, now we have 17,. Am I correct? 17 virtual collections? Yep, that's correct.

Speaker 2: 1:17

So they are different topics like coronavirus vaccination, theogenology, arthritis, tick borne diseases lots of different topics and what we do then are to curate topics from JAVMA and AJVR, put them in this virtual collection and they're free freely available to anybody who wants to read them. In addition, of course, we have our supplemental issues in 2023, we had dermatology in your practice in June. Our dentistry supplement just came out this December. Our next supplement will be with Kyla Orgud from UPenn as guest editor and that will be in regenerative medicine Lots of really great topics for our readers to get to really specialize, curated content.

Speaker 1: 2:02

Thank you so much for sharing, lisa. It was really really cool reading your December editorial and just seeing how far we've come, so looking forward to what next year brings to Nick. What are you most proud of from this year?

Speaker 3: 2:15

Thanks for asking. I think it's really hard question to answer because I think we've really done a lot of good things this this past year that we're really, really proud of. One thing that when Lisa first began her 10 years editor in chief, she really brought to the division and said she wanted to improve the author experience, and I think that's something that the entire staff has really taken to heart. We know there's numerous options for authors to publish their work all over the globe and we really want to be that destination for authors and we continue to look for ways to make our journals a destination for the best veterinary content. We continually focus on customer service. We strive for the best turnaround time and I think you know those are just. We've just made the commitment to authors to make their experience a good one, and I think we're seeing that play out in the dividends, where we're getting really really good content each and every week.

Speaker 2: 3:18

Hey, sarah, I forgot to mention one of the super cool things that readers, members none of us in our division or the AVMA loved were that we used to send out when we had like multiple things to send out. It's called polybagging and it used to be in plastic and everybody hates them. All of us hate things that come in plastic. So we were the first, as far as I know, in any scientific publishing to have recycling paper-friendly envelopes. There's Sarah showing one. So we're really really proud of this Again, at first in publishing, getting rid of some of the harmful plastic, it was one of the things that, as I said, readers, authors didn't like.

Speaker 2: 3:56

Nobody really liked it and in line with that, we try to do things that are evidence-based. Evidence-based. You know what do the readers want, what do authors want, and we are launching in January a readership survey. So I hope if you readers are listening and you get selected to take the survey, you'll really help us because we want to respond to what readers and authors want. Authorship survey will be secondary, but readership survey will be first and we'll really use that to guide our strategic policies for 2024.

Speaker 1: 4:28

Thank you so much for sharing, Lisa. That survey is really going to guide our future. Nick, what are you most excited about for the future?

Speaker 3: 4:36

I think we could all agree that social media is here to stay. I think the statistic really points out to one of our goals that we have as a journal publisher and that's engagement with our readers and our authors. You know we want our authors and our readers to engage with the journals, whether that be through social media, through the website or through print. We really want our authors and readers to look forward to the content that we are providing. The veterinary community is such a diverse group with so many different interests. As a publisher, we hope to provide something of interest to everyone. Social media is just one of those avenues, but we know it's a growing avenue and we know we're going to continue to find ways to interact with our authors and readers on a regular basis.

Speaker 1: 5:27

So now we're going to move to a bit more of a personal note. Lisa, where did your resilience, inspiration, determination come from?

Speaker 2: 5:36

The resilience is pretty easy. I'm the youngest of seven, now eight. We found an eighth sister who we adore, and I grew up on a farm, so you had to figure out how to get it done. There was nobody there to change your tire for you or whatever other mischief I got up to. You had to figure out a way to get out of it and you never, ever missed supper. We called it when I grew up, but you just didn't miss supper. So you just figured out a way to get home and out of whatever trouble you got into.

Speaker 2: 6:04

Especially I got into a lot of trouble with my horse. And then now you know I just I love being a veterinarian. I think it's the coolest profession, and to be part of the AVMA and be able to make these journals more author friendly, more reviewer friendly, more clinically applicable, has been just immensely rewarding. We have a really great team that are like-minded. It really is a team, not just again, with our division. As I said earlier, we work very closely with Markham and Public Policy and it's really fun to align with the whole association to help our profession.

Speaker 1: 6:41

I think we've done a really great job of having a collaborative approach and it's just a joy to work with the other divisions at the ATMA and work towards a common goal. Nick, where did you get your resilience, inspiration, determination from?

Speaker 3: 6:54

Most of my formative years were spent on various athletic fields.

Speaker 3: 7:00

As somebody who likes to compete, you know the wins are great, the losses are kind of what drives you to get better, and, being part of a team, you always had goals that you set and ways you wanted to try to achieve those goals, and I look at our AVMA family kind of the same way, as a team.

Speaker 3: 7:24

I know Lisa is very competitive too, and I think we really want these journals to be the best that they can be, and I think that's something that, since Lisa has come on board, that we've really, really embraced is just how can we be innovative and how can we change the narrative of what we're presenting to our authors and our readers, and I really think that's something that we've all embraced and that we continue to make milestones and strides towards new endeavors all the time. Whether it be monthly new content that we put out there in terms of collections, or just new currents and one health articles every month, we're always looking for ways to enhance the website and our print offerings, and that's really something I think we're all really trying to strive for.

Speaker 1: 8:21

I agree, nick. We're always pushing the envelope, which I think is great. I think that if you get too comfortable, that's a can be a dangerous place to be, so it's good to keep up with new trends, too, in the field. Now, these next set of questions are really fun, nick. What was the first concert that you attended?

Speaker 3: 8:37

So about 90 minutes north of Chicago there's an outside amphitheater called Alpine Valley Music Center and it's one of the largest outdoor venues in North America, or at least it was.

Speaker 3: 8:55

I remember one of my earliest memories. I was only like five or six years old and my parents decided to you know, it would be a good idea to throw us all into our station wagon and make the trek to this, to this venue, and the band we saw was was a local band, Chicago, who made it pretty big. But the thing I remember was my first experience ever, you know, where. There were like 40,000 people at a venue and I was, like, you know, to a five or six year old kid it felt like it was a million people and it was really, you know, really awe inspiring at the time. And as I grew up and became a teenager and young adult and I went back to the venue to see bands like Metallica or the Grateful Dead or the Dave Matthews Band, I realized that it probably wasn't the best place to bring a five or six year old kid. But that's what I remember the most about my first concert.

Speaker 1: 9:58

Yeah, we talked a little bit about this in the office and I had never heard of it, so there was a list of things that didn't know existed, does it still exist?

Speaker 3: 10:07

It does still exist. They have a they don't have an agreement with, like Ticketmaster and stuff, so they can't get some of the big acts that they used to. They've stayed independent. So they still get a lot of, you know, country acts and Jason Aldean is playing there this summer and Hootie and the Blowfish a couple others, but it was a big thing in the 80s and 90s. I remember watching MTV when they first really started with music videos. You know they filmed several of the live music videos from Malpine Valley, so it was cool to see them show up on MTV.

Speaker 1: 10:51

Yeah, that's awesome. And, lisa, when you put together a puzzle, do you start with an inside piece or an exterior or border piece?

Speaker 2: 11:00

That's a great question, Sarah. You and I have asked this of several people on the podcast and everybody to date has said border, and I'm a border person too. My oldest daughter is a center person and it leads to some controversy. So fortunately, I'm a really early morning person and she isn't, so I get up in the morning and I put the border together and then when I when, then late at night, she'll put the center together and then when I wake up, some of the center pieces are there, so it's collaborative. It's collaborative but another, not not simultaneously collaborative or it leads to some controversy, but definitely a border person. Yeah, what I meant to. Also, she's a medical student. So at first when I, when I, when we kept getting border, border, border, I thought, well, maybe that is like medically linear not, we don't think linearly, but maybe it's a medical type of thinking, but she's a medical school, so they're going that theory.

Speaker 1: 11:56

Very interesting. The one she'll do is study on that. But one thing I wanted to share too is, since I'm not working from home today, I have this really great mug that Gregory Leibart from NC State sent me, and the back of it is actually my first ever manuscript that was published and he had the title and the authors printed onto this mug, so he sent it to me as like a little congratulatory gift after that was published in just school.

Speaker 3: 12:22

That's awesome. That's very cool yeah.

Speaker 1: 12:24

Yeah, keep it here for inspiration. So, yes, and just thank you both again. I really appreciate all that you do for our journals and also for being here today and sharing your wisdom with our listeners. Thanks for having us.

Speaker 3: 12:37

Thanks for having us. Happy holidays everybody.

Speaker 1: 12:40

And to our listeners. You can read more about these exciting accomplishments and Lisa's December editorial in print Java or on our journals website. I'm Sarah Wright and I want to thank each of you for joining us on this episode of the Veterinary Vertex podcast. We love sharing cutting edge veterinary research with you and we want to hear from you. Be sure to leave us a rating and review on Apple podcasts or whatever platform you listen to.