This month, PTJ and APTA are honored to announce that the Royal Dutch Society for Physical Therapy has made PTJ its official journal. As editor in chief, I am delighted to be entering into this relationship with our Dutch colleagues.
Researchers from the Netherlands have made significant contributions to our understanding of the use of measurement tools to examine clinical effectiveness in a variety of medical diagnoses. Dutch investigators have advanced our understanding of clinical practice guideline development and clinician adherence to guidelines, as well as our understanding of professional issues such as direct access, continuing education, and physical therapist consultation in primary care. And, PTJ has a “personal” history with the Netherlands; in the 1990s, Editor in Chief Jules Rothstein traveled there more than once to speak to the physical therapy research community.
PTJ's first Dutch Editorial Board member was Paul J.M. Helders, PT, PhD, PCS, who served from 2008 into 2012; his contributions to PTJ, including the December 2011 special issue on variability in childhood development that he co-edited with Cole Galloway, PT, PhD, engaged new pediatric researchers from around the world. In addition, Dr Helders was editor in chief of the Dutch physical therapy journal and was instrumental in bringing our 2 societies together in this new relationship. Current Editorial Board member Jan Willem Gorter, PhD, MD, FRCPC, based at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, also has roots in the Netherlands, where he was chair of the Dutch Academy of Childhood Disability.
We now are pleased to welcome Philip Van der Wees, PT, PhD, who is affiliated with the Scientific Institute for Quality of Healthcare at Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Center and with Maastricht University. Nominated by the Royal Dutch Society to serve on PTJ's Editorial Board, he will share his expertise in clinical practice guideline development and in examining clinician adherence to practice guidelines, areas in which PTJ seeks to deepen its contributions.
Many of our readers are aware of the current buzzword for determining the outcome when new research findings are introduced into clinical practice: translational research (https://www.iths.org/about/translational). Khoury et al1 are among the investigators who identified the different phases of research—from making the initial scientific discovery (T0 research) to determining whether that discovery benefits or harms society (T4 research) when the discovery is actually “used” by the population. In the past, many of the clinical researchers within our community have concluded research when the practice guideline was developed. I am excited to attract research reports that explore successful methods to entice clinician adherence and even more excited to attract research reports that examine whether the changed behavior leads to beneficial and cost-effective outcomes for the population. I hope that Dr Van der Wees will assist PTJ in stirring up enthusiasm for T3 and T4 research.
I look forward to 2013 as another year that brings innovative ways for our readers to collaborate and enhance clinical practice across the globe.
- © 2013 American Physical Therapy Association
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