As the Texas Family Medicine Research Journal’s first volume comes to a close with the end of the academic year, we must reflect on our journal’s successes and growing pains.

Over the past 12 months, we have edited and published over 40 manuscripts, with more submissions still in the editing process for our next volume. Our editorial board has grown to include members from a majority of the medical educational institutions around Texas and has a growing resident and medical student presence. We are building relationships with each medical school’s Family Medicine Interest Group in hopes to create a more seamless entry point into publishing for our medical trainees. Associate Editor-in-Chief Larry Kravitz and Editorial Board member Patricia Lopez-Gutierrez have spread the word about the journal by presenting our mission and model at the Society for Teachers of Family Medicine. We have also incorporated undergraduate interns to help structure and advertise the journal through the University of Texas at Austin and UT Dallas internship programs with our editorial staff. Our journal has found its niche in promoting and teaching about the publishing process but not without its challenges.

The review process has admittedly been a major challenge that we strive to improve. As our authors know, it can sometimes take weeks to months for a response regarding acceptance or revision requests. We appreciate all of our authors’ patience and those who have checked in on the process when we have had delays. Communication among our editors, reviewers, and authors has been vital for each manuscript to successfully be incorporated into each issue, and we hope to improve our communication process with status updates and more nudges to complete each step in the coming year.

We have also had many discussions about how to keep our journal sustainable. Through charitable grants from the Texas Academy of Family Physicians Heart of Texas Chapter and Austin Regional Clinic as well as private donations, our journal has managed to remain financially stable, a challenge for the entire publishing world right now. Our appreciation to all who have backed TFMRJ both financially and by connecting us with invested individuals around Texas to help build our readership.

Despite these challenges, we have persisted, grown, and created a strong journal that will continue to publish high quality educational and helpful research content in the family medicine field. Thank you to our editorial board, authors, and interns for making this happen.

Of course, our journal could not exist without our peer reviewers, so this issue will start an annual tradition of recognizing all peer reviewers for volunteering their time. Thank you all for your time and dedication to Family Medicine research in Texas.

Rekha Afzalpurkar, MD
Steven Brown (Medical Student)
Jessica Calderon-Mora, DrPH
Lesca Hadley, MD, MBA, FAAFP, AGSF
Katharina Hathaway, MD
Jacqueline Hirth, PhD, MPH
Brittany Houston, PsyD
Mahvash Husain, MD
Timothy Ihongbe, MD, MPH, PhD (Resident)
Urooj Jaffer, MD
Jennifer Kelly, MD, FAAFP
Safia Khan, MD
Patricia Lopez-Gutierrez, MD, FAAFP
Jennifer Molokwu, MD
Kaitlyn Moseley, MD
Benjamin Popokh, MD (Resident)
Gurjeet Shokar, MD
Dana Sprute, MD, MPH, FAAFP
Chermaine Tyler, PhD
Joaquin Villegas Inurrigarro, MD, MPH
Brandon Williamson, MD, FAAFP, RDMS, DipABLM
Elena Zamora, MD

This editors’ note feels bittersweet to me, as it will be my last. After the publication of this issue, I will be stepping down from my role as Editor-in-Chief to explore other opportunities as I move forward with my career in academic medicine. That said, I will not be going far from the editors’ desk and will still be serving the journal as a peer reviewer. I have appreciated working with an amazing and enriching editorial board and have learned so much from this role. I look forward to watching how the journal continues to grow throughout the coming years.

Warmly,
Jen Nordhauser, MD,MPH,FAAFP
Editor-in-Chief