Continuity and change: the future for Health Services Management Research

This is only the second editorial in the 24-year history of this journal. The first, in the opening issue of the journal in 1988 by its founding editor, Peter Spurgeon, ¹ announced its mission and purpose, and invited the submission of research papers. That invitation has not needed to be repeated, and this editorial marks his retirement as editor after more than two decades at the helm, during which Health Services Management Research has published over 560 papers on topics as diverse as performance measurement in health care, ² the cultural dynamics of medicine, nursing and management, ³ service scheduling, access and waiting times, ⁴ and knowledge transfer in health care. ⁵

Health Services Management Research has always focused on publishing theoretically and empirically rigorous research on questions of enduring interest and concern to health-care organizations and systems throughout the world. Its strengths as a journal have been not just in the scientific quality and relevance of those papers, but also in the highly international community of scholars who have contributed – from over 30 countries and across the developed and developing world. Since 2001, the journal, has been published by the Royal Society of Medicine Press in London, whose 200-year history and extensive portfolio of health-related journals and books have brought both prestige and practical benefit to the journal, through wider circulation and indexation. RSM Press also publishes a sister journal, the Journal of Health Services Research and Policy, with a complementary mission and purpose.

From the first issue of 2012, Kieran Walshe assumes the editorship of Health Services Management Research, conscious both of the distinguished history of the journal and the need to ensure that it is, and continues to be, at the forefront of health services management research in the future. Our mission remains unchanged – to publish high-quality, theoretically and empirically rigorous research papers on subjects of high salience and enduring interest to health-care organizations, and health systems throughout the world. We welcome papers presenting primary research, those presenting a secondary analysis or synthesis of the existing research evidence and those making new theoretical or methodological contributions to the field. But we plan to make some initial changes to the way the journal works.

Firstly, we plan to respond to the recent flourishing interest in evidence-based management across the health sector ⁶ and the wider research community in business and management. ⁷ This journal can and should make a substantial contribution both to research and to managerial practice, and we will place particular emphasis on publishing papers which offer actionable findings, and encouraging authors to couch their findings in terms which will promote and support their translation into managerial practice.

Secondly, we also want to encourage submissions of ground-breaking research, and to that end we will proactively commission selected papers from research teams or groups on topics of particular salience and importance. Commissioned papers will undergo the same process of peer review as those received in open submission. We will welcome ideas or proposals for commissioned papers, which can be sent directly to the editorial office: hsmrproduction@rsm.ac.uk.

Thirdly, we will be able to offer all potential contributors a rapid process of scientific peer review. All papers will be reviewed internally within two weeks of submission, and may be rejected at that stage or then sent out to peer review, using both our Editorial Board and our academy of peer reviewers. We will aim to give an editorial decision – to accept (usually with minor revisions), revise and resubmit, or reject – within 10 weeks of submission. We are then able, in some circumstances, to ‘fast track’ papers to print and electronic publication, particularly where authors show there is a pressing need to put their results in the public domain.

Fourthly, we have now moved to electronic submission using Manuscript Central, and have consequentially updated our guidance for contributors, which can be found at http://hsmr.rsmjournals.com. We know that for authors and peer reviewers, web-based submission processes can have both advantages and disadvantages. The real benefit for everyone is that we will be able to manage submission and peer review much more proactively, and more quickly. The downside is that it can sometimes seem somewhat impersonal – but we would reassure past and future contributors that we will do our best to maintain the personal contact with the research and practice communities, which has been a key feature of Health Service Management Research in the past.

In conclusion, at a time when health-care systems across the world face unparalleled financial, demographic and technological pressures, the need for sound, evidence-based decision-making has never been greater. There cannot be a more worthwhile endeavour for this journal than that it should play a crucial part in sharing evidence, knowledge and experience in the health-care management research and practice communities, and bringing researchers and practitioners together to tackle the future challenges for health-care organizations and systems across the world.