Abstract
ALA has been working hard to bring lab automation professionals together as a single, unified community. As a result, we have witnessed impressive new contributions from professionals working in food and agricultural, security and forensic sciences, and molecular diagnostics. Of course, we are still about drug discovery and development, and clinical applications, but we recognize our wide berth and have made room for like minds.
As a peer-reviewed, scientific journal, JALA manuscript abstracts are indexed in many important academic and professional databases, including ALA's own JALA Online; Elsevier's ScienceDirect, EMBASE/Excerpta Medica, and Compendex; American Chemical Society's CAS+ and SciFinder; Royal Society of Chemistry's Analytical Abstracts; and CINAHL. These resources serve a broad spectrum of users, from hands-on healthcare providers to informatics engineers in ivory towers. The fact that JALA fits into all of them is not a surprise to ALA.
What was a surprise to ALA was that the National Library of Medicine (NLM) declined to include JALA in its MEDLINE database. Despite a comprehensive application that included spirited letters of recommendation from impressive scientific dignitaries and medical researchers, NLM believes that JALA is out of MEDLINE's scope.
This news was disappointing to some members of the ALA Board of Directors, the JALA Editorial Board and staff, and many past and prospective JALA authors. The news sparked debate. After honest dialog and a period of constructive self-evaluation, it was agreed that JALA exists to serve lab automation professionals, not database publishers.
JALA's stated purpose is to create “an international, multidisciplinary forum devoted to the advancement of technology in the laboratory,” and to this end, it appears that JALA is directly on target. Research tells us that JALA readers value the journal, and as long as JALA readers continue to find it pertinent and practical, ALA will continue to consider JALA to be on target.
JALA, like all ALA programs and products, is driven by what lab automation professionals need and want. ALA regularly provides opportunities for members and nonmembers to provide input and share opinions. Formal and informal feedback matters to the leadership of ALA and JALA. So please, be sure to participate in ALA surveys, and if you ever have a question, suggestion, idea, or concern, let us know. Your opinions matter.
Sincerely,
Douglas Gurevitch, P.E.
