The Future of the Journal: Spinal Cord

Welcome to the future of Spinal Cord. 

In this episode, our hosts Dr. Fehlings and Professor Anthony S. Burns welcome us to a new era of ISCoS’s flagship journal, Spinal Cord. 

Conceptualised in 1963, Spinal Cord is a specialised, international journal that publishes peer-reviewed manuscripts, to showcase powerful medicinal insights and support those within the SCI community. 

Appearing monthly, both online and in print, Spinal Cord invites contributions on spinal cord anatomy, physiology, injury and associated disease management, and importantly, improving the quality of life for those living with a spinal cord injury. 

As this unique, interdisciplinary journal progresses into its next chapter, Dr. Fehlings and Professor Anthony S. Burns have initiated an open call for Associate Editors to join their team of esteemed doctors, researchers and practitioners in bringing this journal to life. 

To apply for this role, please visit: Call for Application: Associate Editors of Spinal Cord | Spinal Cord (nature.com)

Or to learn more about Spinal Cord, please visit: Journal Information | Spinal Cord (nature.com)

SCI Care Guidelines

The opinions of our host and guests are their own; ISCoS does not endorse any individual viewpoints, given products or companies.

If you enjoyed this podcast, please rate, review and subscribe with the podcast provider of your choice.

This show is brought to you by ISCoS - you can follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn

The SCI Care: What really Matters podcast aims to provide valuable insights and the most up-to-date information for those providing care to people with spinal cord injury (SCI) worldwide. The vision of the International Spinal Cord Society (ISCoS) is to "facilitate healthy and inclusive lives for people with spinal cord injury or dysfunction globally".

Partnership and collaboration are key to achieving this vision. Our episodes include expert guests, persons with lived experience and representatives from the industry supporting SCI care.

We invite you to:
ISCoS 2024 will take place in Antwerp, Belgium 22 - 25 Sep

The opinions of our host and guests are their own; ISCoS does not endorse any individual viewpoints, given products or companies.

If you enjoyed this podcast, please rate, review and subscribe with the podcast provider of your choice.

This show is brought to you by ISCoS - you can follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn

The SCI Care: What really Matters podcast aims to provide valuable insights and the most up-to-date information for those providing care to people with spinal cord injury (SCI) worldwide. The vision of the International Spinal Cord Society (ISCoS) is to "facilitate healthy and inclusive lives for people with spinal cord injury or dysfunction globally".

Partnership and collaboration are key to achieving this vision. Our episodes include expert guests, persons with lived experience and representatives from the industry supporting SCI care.

We invite you to:

ISCoS 2024 will take place in Antwerp, Belgium 22 - 25 September 2024

Contact us directly with any questions or comments at iscos@associationsltd.co.uk

Transcript

Dr Michael Fehlings: 0:03

Hello and welcome to this episode of Spinal Cord Injury Care what Really Matters podcast series. I'm your host, Professor Michael Failings, from the University of Toronto Department of Surgery, where I'm also the Vice Chair of research, and very pleased to indicate that I am the new and incoming editor-in-chief of Spinal Cord. I'm joined today by my esteemed friend and colleague, Dr Anthony Burns, also from the University of Toronto, who's an associate editor of Spinal Cord, and together, Dr Burns and I will share a snippet of what our vision will be for the future of Spinal Cord. Dr Burns, I wonder if you could perhaps introduce yourself.

Professor Anthony S. Burns : 0:57

Certainly, M michael. Thank you for inviting me to participate in the podcast. As Michael stated, my name is Anthony, but most people know me as Tony. I'm trained as an internist and a specialist in physical medicine and rehabilitation physiatrist. I also have additional training specific to spinal cord medicine and essentially my entire career has focused on the care of individuals with spinal cord injuries. Career has focused on the care of individuals with spinal cord injuries. Currently, I've been at the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute since 2007. It's the largest spinal cord rehabilitation program in Canada and I'm a professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Toronto and a colleague of Dr Phelings.

Dr Michael Fehlings: 1:40

Thank you, Tony.

Dr Michael Fehlings: 1:41

So it's with great honour and humility that I've taken on an exciting challenge as the new incoming editor-in-chief of Spinal Cord, which is the flagship journal of the International Spinal Cord Society, or ISCOS, and, in my view, arguably is the journal of record of the entire field of spinal cord injury.

Dr Michael Fehlings: 2:10

I'm very excited about the opportunities that this position holds, and it is our intention to make spinal cord the preferred venue for publication of translational, clinical and basic science research in the area of both traumatic and non-traumatic spinal cord injury and associated disorders that are relevant to these conditions. It is our plan to make spinal Cord an excellent venue from the author's perspective as well as from the reviewer's perspective. Our goal and intention is to provide an expedited and efficient turnaround of all submitted articles, with a fair, transparent and excellent peer-reviewed process. From the reviewers' perspective, it is our intention also to make this an excellent experience for the reviewers by facilitating the process, and our vision will be to entice authors to submit their best work to Spinal Cord. So, on that note, Dr Burns, I'd be interested in your reflections as an associate editor of Spinal Cord.

Professor Anthony S. Burns : 3:40

Well, I guess I'll start by echoing your sentiments about the central importance of spinal cord as a journal to the field.

Professor Anthony S. Burns : 3:49

It has a long history, dating back to 1963 under its former name of paraplegia, before transitioning to its current name. I can personally state it's always been one of the core journals that I've followed closely and have read throughout my entire career. It's unique in its multidisciplinary nature in that it really publishes articles that span the entire continuum from basic science to clinical applied science. So it has interest really to the audience across the realm of researchers and clinicians who have interests in clinical spinal cord injury and disease. Just as importantly as the official journal of the International Spinal Cord Society. It really has a global perspective and I guess I would really underline that point. I think it has a very unique place as a result. Speaking as an associate editor and on behalf of the other associate editors, we recognize the responsibility of continuing to promote and help the journal to flourish and we're committed to working with Dr Failings. We're happy to have him on board and his leadership. We're sure that the journal is going to flourish going forward.

Dr Michael Fehlings: 5:07

Thank you, tony, for your positive comments.

Dr Michael Fehlings: 5:11

From my perspective as editor-in-chief, I'm currently, with the assistance of our team at Spinal Cord, rebuilding the editorial board and the team of associate editors, and there is currently an open call for applications for the editorial board and to round out our team of associate editors, and I want to express my very deep appreciation and thanks to our wonderful team of associate editors who, apart from Dr Anthony Burns, include Dr Jörg Kreps, dr Rudiger Rupp and Sonia de Groot, who also is handling our social media.

Dr Michael Fehlings: 5:58

We have recently added Dr Narahito Nogoshi from Keio University in Japan to our team and we anticipate adding a number of additional people to our team of associate editors, additional people to our team of associate editors and also having a team to round out our editorial board.

Dr Michael Fehlings: 6:25

Apart from our vision to create an excellent experience from the author's perspective as well as from the reviewer's perspective, we're also quite conscious of the important impact of publicizing the articles themselves and using social media as a valuable tool to do so. And again, a shout out to Sonia DeGroote, who will be quarterbacking that initiative. To facilitate an impact on social media, we have recently undertaken an initiative where the authors are encouraged to submit a visual abstract which summarizes their work, and visual abstracts can be quite an effective means to communicate the central messages of the article in social media such as X, instagram, linkedin and other media, and, in addition, we have reinitiated the Editor's Choice series where I, in my role as Editor-in-Chief, in consultation with our Associate Editor's Editorial Board, will select articles each issue to highlight, and we think that this will provide value to the readership of Spinal Cord and also be of substantial interest to potential authors. Dr Burns, any closing comments from your perspective.

Professor Anthony S. Burns : 8:02

I guess I would just, on behalf of the associate editors, just a kind of echo what you've already communicated. There are a lot of exciting new developments with the journal. We're looking forward to partnering with you and moving these initiatives forward and continuing to make this a valuable resource for the entire field.

Dr Michael Fehlings: 8:21

Thank you, tony, to make this a valuable resource for the entire field. Thank you, tony. I really appreciate your continued support and I think we have a really strong vision to continue in the important role that spinal cord has had in the field, but also looking to the future, and to enhance the experience for all key stakeholders. Enhance the experience for all key stakeholders. So, on that note, we hope you have enjoyed listening to the SCI Care episode, what Really Matters. Interestingly, we now have over 70 episodes in our podcast catalog and you can access all of these through your chosen podcast medium. If you have any questions or suggestions, we would love to hear from you and please email these to admin at iscosorguk. Thank you.