Since its debut issue in 1973, 10 editors have guided the Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology (JNMT) as it has grown to be the leading publication on the technology of nuclear medicine. At the same time, the field itself has undergone tremendous changes, especially in the last 2 decades. This month, we look back at earlier editors of the journal and talk with those under whose direction JNMT has added features and expanded its focus to reflect these changes.
The first issue of JNMT appeared in March 1973 under the editorship of Glenn Isserstedt at the University of Iowa. An administrative assistant and coordinator of education for the radiology department at University Hospital, he was active in local and national nuclear medicine affairs and served as chair of the SNMTS Continuing Education and Publication Committee.
Glenn Isserstedt
From the beginning, JNMT distinguished itself from many of its contemporary “tech” journals that focused on workplace issues. The journal was founded because the growing numbers of nuclear medicine technologists recognized a need to share and discuss the basic science and techniques associated with their daily activities. As a result, high-quality, peer-reviewed scientific content was included from the beginning.
Submissions from the nuclear medicine community in the United States and beyond were bolstered by the designation of an annual prize for the outstanding scientific article published in JNMT. The first prize was awarded to Ficken et al. from the University of Oklahoma Health Services Center (Oklahoma City) for “Radionuclide Contamination of Fission Generator Eluate” (1). The professional level that the journal maintained from the start led to its inclusion in the Chemical Abstracts Service database in 1974, a distinction given at that time to few technologist-produced and -oriented publications.
In September of 1974, Isserstedt became president-elect of SNMTS and was succeeded as editor of JNMT by David Wells, a member of the journal’s editorial board and supervisory technologist and instructor at the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City. Wells had served as program director for a popular workshop at the annual SNM meeting on “How to Write a Technical Paper” and was the author of numerous scientific articles.
Patricia Weigand, who had served as a consulting editor to JNMT for more than 2 years, became editor at the end of Wells’ term in 1978. An accomplished author from the Veterans Administration Hospital (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), she had won the award for outstanding paper in the journal in both 1975 and 1976 with articles on radioimmunoassay technique. Under her direction, the editorial content of the journal was upgraded and the range of topics expanded. At a time when nuclear medicine itself was in search of new directions, JNMT stayed remarkably on course, covering those issues that were of interest to technologists and keeping up with new research and promising innovations.
Patricia Weigand
In 1983, Paul Christian, technical director of nuclear medicine at the University of Utah Medical Center, became editor of the journal. With a strong background in nuclear medicine and physics, he also brought a proven track record in publications to the assignment. “It was important to me to identify the needs of our audience,” he said. “We undertook a readership survey and made subsequent changes to the journal to enhance those sections that readers responded were the most valuable.” The survey and other feedback indicated the pressing need for more and better continuing education (CE) opportunities for nuclear medicine technologists.
Paul Christian
“One of my goals was to elevate the quality of the scientific articles in the journal and also to increase the number of pages,” said Christian. “The inclusion of CE articles that were rich in content and germane to the needs of our readership fulfilled both of these goals.” The first CE articles in JNMT were published under his editorship, as well as the first review articles.
Reflecting back on his 2 terms at the head of the journal, Christian noted that his biggest challenge was the perennial problem for editors: soliciting good articles for publication. “But any difficulties along the way were more than made up for by a feeling of contributing a valuable service to all of nuclear medicine and at the same time meeting and working with so many people from a wide variety of institutions and backgrounds,” he said. “We clearly had a reservoir of vast experience to draw on in our SNMTS membership and beyond. I think that the CE articles and review articles made a big difference in improving the usefulness of the journal for technologists.”
Sue Weiss, a past SNMTS president and recipient of the outstanding JNMT paper award in 1974, became editor in 1989. Under her direction, the journal cover was redesigned and short “artifact” articles were introduced.
“We introduced regular editorials from both associate and consulting editors to discuss many of the issues that were crucial to practicing nuclear medicine technologists and to those considering entering the field,” Weiss said. Under her direction, JNMT achieved the distinction of being included in the Index Medicus. The timing proved fortuitous, as it was during this period that the entire medical world ventured online. Awareness of JNMT rose, both within nuclear medicine and in other specialties.
Weiss published the first CE series on PET for technologists—at a time when many imaging specialists were still denying that the modality would ever achieve widespread clinical use. “Getting quality CE articles was not always easy,” she said. “But these were important and served a very real need.” She looked back on her 2 terms as editor positively: “Personally, I learned so much, it has helped me in everything I have done since!”
Sue Gilbert became the journal’s sixth editor in 1995. A nuclear medicine supervisor at the VA Hospital in Portland, Oregon, she had also served on the JNMT editorial board. Under her direction, editorial production of the journal was computerized and, for the first time, some (but not all) articles were submitted, edited, and sent to the press electronically. Also in 1995, the journal’s audience expanded when it was included in the listings for the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature.
Before Beth Harkness became editor in 2001, the central editorial office for the journal changed with each new editor. Under her direction, the JNMT office was moved to SNM headquarters in Reston, Virginia, a change that provides a new level of support staff continuity. The entire manuscript submission and peer-review process moved online during her editorship, a process that Harkness noted was difficult at times but ultimately rewarding for both authors and reviewers.
Beth Harkness
In only 3 years, the content of JNMT had changed under Harkness to reflect the rapid pace of technological development in nuclear medicine. “The increased role of PET in nuclear medicine has created a great need for articles about basic science and technique related to this technology,” Harkness said. “We’ve tried to provide both technologists and physicians with articles that help them understand the technical aspects of PET. The CE papers have been very important because they present information about PET that the nuclear community really needed.”
She also noted the satisfaction that comes to an editor who shepherds a new author through the peer-review process for the first time. “I hope that the experience of publishing that first article will encourage these new authors to write more articles in the future,” she said. “To me it’s really rewarding to see new people making that first effort to publish a scientific paper.”
JNMT editors interviewed for this story agreed that the biggest challenge for JNMT today is keeping up with the speed and variety of change in nuclear medicine. Christian noted, “With the rapid evolution toward image fusion, the widespread use of clinical PET, and the likelihood that PET/CT will become the standard of care in oncology, JNMT has more ground to cover at a faster pace than ever before.” At the same time, most technologists are finding their working days increasingly filled with patient loads, constant training, and record-keeping demands that seem to change and grow exponentially. “One challenge for JNMT in this environment is getting enough articles,” said Weiss.
One of the responses to these challenges has been rethinking the journal’s purpose and target audience. “JNMT has long been thought of as ‘the journal for technologists,’ but I think it can and should have a broader role,” said Harkness. “We are trying to position it instead as the journal for technical information about all of nuclear medicine. Articles about the best techniques, alternative approaches, and other innovations are important to everyone who works in this field. We’re making some progress in broadening our approach, but we have a long way to go.”
Frances Neagley, the eighth editor of the JNMT, came to publications as a clinical technologist. Her preeminent goal for the JNMT was not only to keep its high scientific value, but also to increase its clinical relevance to the average technologist. There was an emphasis on CE articles in every issue as well as a new section on commentaries and invited perspectives.
In the beginning, only about 2% of the members available to review manuscript submissions were technologists. Significantly increasing this number became another important goal.
Working with the SNM Committee on Guidelines, the JNMT began publishing revisions to the Guidelines. In addition to a slight increase in the number of pages of the journal, there were more color images.
Norman E. Bolus became the ninth editor-in-chief of the JNMT in 2012. He is an Assistant Professor and Program Director at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) in Birmingham, Alabama, for the entry-level Master of Science in Nuclear Medicine Technology Program. He has been a faculty member since 1999 and program director since 2007. He is also Interim-Program Director of the Master of Health Physics Program at UAB. During his tenure as editor-in-chief, there were several ongoing projects that involved the JNMT that came to fruition between 2012 and 2017. The first was the new Teaching Case Reports that were developed and put into place with help from the SNMMI Academic Council. A standardized format was developed and led to a highlight of one of the reports in the feature: “What is This?” on the cover of each journal. The JNMT also welcomed international consulting editors to the journal to emphasize the importance of our global reach. Also, during this period all previous journals from 1973 to the current editions were archived and made available online to everyone. A mobile application feature was also achieved to make the JNMT available on smartphones and tablets. The JNMT in electronic format (e-version) was made available to SNMMI physician members who previously did not have access during this tenure. Another feature that began was to allow JNMT reviewers to get between 0.5 and 1.5 CEU credits (at the discretion of the editor-in-chief) for their help in making our peer-reviewed journal possible. Finally, JNMT submitted an application to the Journal Citation Reports for consideration in the Clarivate Analysis to be considered for an Impact Factor in the future.
Frances Neagley
Kathy Thomas, a past SNMTS president and long-time member of the JNMT editorial board, is the current and tenth editor of JNMT. Her term began with a total redesign of the journal cover and working with her team of associate editors (AEs) and consulting editors to expand and add new content in the journal. To date, new added content includes a permanent section for manuscripts specific to the needs of educators and students; practical protocol tips that provide concise imaging or therapeutic protocols that can be copied or ripped from the journal and incorporated in daily practice; practical pointers, which provide concise answers to a specific question associated with a single topic; and a student corner designed to highlight research projects completed by nuclear medicine technology students. The goal of the student corner is to support student technologists with a positive experience with their first publication and encourage future submissions as those students become technologists. Additionally, the JNMT continues to solicit an increased number of national and international scientific manuscripts and offers mentors to help new authors embarking on their first publication experience. Finally, CE articles remain the number one request from the technologist community. Thanks to the support of the AEs and technologist leadership, an increased number of CE articles have been made possible. Kathy notes, “JNMT content must continue to be ‘evergreen’ to quickly adapt and change with the rapidly expanding field of nuclear medicine technology.”
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