Do Editors Have Anything to Teach Us? A Review of 30 Years of Journal Editorials

Abstract

The role of the published journal article seems clear to most people. Readers look to it for new information or knowledge, which they will then use to inform their own clinical, administrative, or research practices. The author looks to it as a means of sharing the insights gained from various practice domains. The role of the editorial, however, varies with the editor and is not directly (or even indirectly, perhaps) dependent on what readers perceive their needs to be. Given that there are as many roles for editorials as there are editors, the question arises: What role have editorials played in this Journal over the last 30 years? On a more practical note, a second question might be: Should we be reading these editorials?