- Email: [email protected]
From the past to the present
Radiography (2009) 15, 275
available at www.sciencedirect.com
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/radi
EDITORIAL
From the past to the present Next year is a significant one for the Society of Radiographers. The Society will be celebrating its 90th anniversary. The Society of Radiographers was registered on 6th August 1920 as a limited company by the Board of Trade although the word ‘‘limited’’ was omitted from the title by special dispensation. Rolletson1 claimed that ‘‘the aim of the Society was to give a definite professional status to those who certified non-medical assistants who work in X-ray and electro-therapeutic departments.’’ Although HernamanJohnson2 a leading radiologist of the day expressed a different view: ‘‘We should welcome lay assistance, and seek to organise and guide it. It is too late in the day to make a mystery of taking plates but the interpretation is ours for ever.’’ His view reflected the struggle over the ownership of ‘X-ray work’, which was to dominate the early years of radiography and radiology.3,4 However, to view the distant past through our experience of the present is unfair to those who practised in different times and with different pressures and without the luxury of hindsight. Nevertheless, events from the past are our history and have helped shaped the profession to what it is today. Indeed, the professionalisation of radiography is so inextricably interwoven with past developments that we can hardly expect to understand the present and plan for the future unless we know our past. It is timely, therefore, that we have a special virtual online history edition being published in December. This has been edited by Dr Pauline Reeves, also one of our review editors, who has worked tirelessly on this special edition. Additionally, over the next 12 months via the editorial I will take the opportunity to highlight some of the landmark events that have shaped our profession. Moving to the present, the journal has certainly entered the modern age with more and more refinements being added to Elsevier’s Editorial System, which makes it easier for authors and reviewers to communicate with the Journal and vice versa. Our journal’s home page at http://ees.
elsevier.com/radiography/ provides an array of information for our readers especially authors and reviewers. If you are a novice author especially or wish to become a reviewer then you will find the online tutorials helpful. In addition to this we are also able to provide workshops for groups of potential reviewers and authors; if you would like to know more about this service please feel free to contact me via email. Finally, we will see some changes to the editorial team over the coming months; elsewhere in this edition there is an advertisement for three associate editors. One associate editor will lead on clinical imaging, another on radiotherapy and oncology and as befits an international journal we are seeking to appoint an international editor. The international editor will be an explicit recognition of the growing interest in our journal worldwide. If you are interested in one of the new roles and would like to make a valuable contribution to your journal and profession we will very be pleased to hear from you.
References 1. Rolletson H. Presidential address to the British institute of radiology. Br J Radiol 1928;1:1e7. 2. Hernaman-Johnson F. The place of the radiologist and his kindred in the world of medicine. Arch Radiol Electrother 1919; 24:181e7. 3. Larkin GV. Occupational monopoly in modern medicine. London: Tavistock; 1983. 4. Price RC. Radiographer reporting: origins, demise, and revival of plain film reporting. Radiography 2001;7:105e17.
Richard Price University of Hertfordshire, School of Health and Emergency Professions, College Lane, Hatfield AL10 9AB, United Kingdom E-mail address: [email protected] Available online 4 September 2009
1078-8174/$ - see front matter ª 2009 The College of Radiographers. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.radi.2009.08.001
available at www.sciencedirect.com
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/radi
EDITORIAL
From the past to the present Next year is a significant one for the Society of Radiographers. The Society will be celebrating its 90th anniversary. The Society of Radiographers was registered on 6th August 1920 as a limited company by the Board of Trade although the word ‘‘limited’’ was omitted from the title by special dispensation. Rolletson1 claimed that ‘‘the aim of the Society was to give a definite professional status to those who certified non-medical assistants who work in X-ray and electro-therapeutic departments.’’ Although HernamanJohnson2 a leading radiologist of the day expressed a different view: ‘‘We should welcome lay assistance, and seek to organise and guide it. It is too late in the day to make a mystery of taking plates but the interpretation is ours for ever.’’ His view reflected the struggle over the ownership of ‘X-ray work’, which was to dominate the early years of radiography and radiology.3,4 However, to view the distant past through our experience of the present is unfair to those who practised in different times and with different pressures and without the luxury of hindsight. Nevertheless, events from the past are our history and have helped shaped the profession to what it is today. Indeed, the professionalisation of radiography is so inextricably interwoven with past developments that we can hardly expect to understand the present and plan for the future unless we know our past. It is timely, therefore, that we have a special virtual online history edition being published in December. This has been edited by Dr Pauline Reeves, also one of our review editors, who has worked tirelessly on this special edition. Additionally, over the next 12 months via the editorial I will take the opportunity to highlight some of the landmark events that have shaped our profession. Moving to the present, the journal has certainly entered the modern age with more and more refinements being added to Elsevier’s Editorial System, which makes it easier for authors and reviewers to communicate with the Journal and vice versa. Our journal’s home page at http://ees.
elsevier.com/radiography/ provides an array of information for our readers especially authors and reviewers. If you are a novice author especially or wish to become a reviewer then you will find the online tutorials helpful. In addition to this we are also able to provide workshops for groups of potential reviewers and authors; if you would like to know more about this service please feel free to contact me via email. Finally, we will see some changes to the editorial team over the coming months; elsewhere in this edition there is an advertisement for three associate editors. One associate editor will lead on clinical imaging, another on radiotherapy and oncology and as befits an international journal we are seeking to appoint an international editor. The international editor will be an explicit recognition of the growing interest in our journal worldwide. If you are interested in one of the new roles and would like to make a valuable contribution to your journal and profession we will very be pleased to hear from you.
References 1. Rolletson H. Presidential address to the British institute of radiology. Br J Radiol 1928;1:1e7. 2. Hernaman-Johnson F. The place of the radiologist and his kindred in the world of medicine. Arch Radiol Electrother 1919; 24:181e7. 3. Larkin GV. Occupational monopoly in modern medicine. London: Tavistock; 1983. 4. Price RC. Radiographer reporting: origins, demise, and revival of plain film reporting. Radiography 2001;7:105e17.
Richard Price University of Hertfordshire, School of Health and Emergency Professions, College Lane, Hatfield AL10 9AB, United Kingdom E-mail address: [email protected] Available online 4 September 2009
1078-8174/$ - see front matter ª 2009 The College of Radiographers. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.radi.2009.08.001