2023 was a momentous year for the American Dental Hygienists’ Association and for the Journal of Dental Hygiene. Major milestones included the annual conference in Chicago with over 1,700 oral health care professionals from around the globe and our joint publication with the International Journal of Dental Hygiene, featuring original research in oral health and dental hygiene education. Of special note were the three legacy papers that were co-published on 100 years of dental hygiene research, advances in direct access to dental hygiene care and the implementation of a dual licensed workforce model in Minnesota. It was a significant achievement to add these papers to the dental hygiene literature. Other noteworthy aspects of the year for the JDH include our June issue focus on medical-dental integration and the introduction of short reports on research methodology. In addition, selected manuscripts are now available as professional development courses on CE Scholar, part of the ADHA CE Smart platform. Efforts are ongoing to promote the JDH to ADHA members and the wider global audience of oral health care professionals.
The JDH is currently the only peer-reviewed research publication for the dental hygiene profession in the United States. As a scholarly publication we are indebted to the ongoing support of the American Dental Hygienists’ Association and their steadfast commitment to advancing scholarship in dental hygiene. We also could not grow the profession without the expertise of our JDH Editorial Advisory Board and our reviewers at large. I am grateful for the time and effort our reviewers put into each manuscript submission. Our reviewers represent a wide range of perspectives and years of experience in dentistry, dental hygiene and health care. Their feedback and recommendations are key to the scholarly peer review process and help to ensure the research validity and continued high quality of the manuscripts we publish.
I would also like to extend our thanks to all the authors who have submitted manuscripts for consideration in 2023. On behalf of the JDH, we sincerely appreciate the efforts of all who seek to advance the profession, regardless of the final judgment of the peer review process. We are looking forward to increased submissions in the coming year.
In my personal reflections of this milestone year, I would be remiss if I did not mention the passing of Ann Battrell, Chief Executive Officer of the ADHA. Ann’s mentoring touched countless people throughout her long career in dental hygiene. She was able to challenge people to recognize their potential – be it as a dental hygiene leader or as a managing editor of a scholarly journal. I am grateful that I accepted her challenge to begin working with the JDH in 2017 and I continue to feel her presence each day in my work. Her spirit and influence lives on as we move forward into the next 100 years of the ADHA.
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