Abstract
As we enter into 2016, technology becomes an ever increasingly more important part of our lives. Global Spine Journal is also trying to keep up with the times, as the age of print is starting to come to a close and everything is available digitally. GSJ understands that everyone leads busy lives and people do not always have time to read an entire print journal. However, we also understand that many people still enjoy reading a print journal, so we are also happy to continue to issue print copies of the journal. GSJ now has a podcast series that comes out every 3rd Friday of the month. These podcasts feature interviews between one of our Editors-in-Chief and the author of an article hand-picked by the Editors-in-Chief. These podcasts are available on iTunes here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/global-spine-journal/id923005213?mt=2 or you can also find all of them on Thieme's website here: https://www.thieme-connect.com/products/ejournals/podcast/10.1055/s-00000177. These podcasts are available to download for free and you can subscribe to them on iTunes. The podcasts are a great benefit for our readers because it allows them to learn about a particular article on the go—in the car, in the office, at the airport. We are excited to continue this successful podcast series in 2016.
Another tool we have for our readers is the GSJ Browser app. This is an app that can be downloaded for tablets and allows readers to download articles to read offline at a later time. Readers can also read full issues of the journal on this app as well. This app is a great way for people to read the journal on the go, especially if they do not want to carry around a paper copy of the journal. We are excited about this browser app and we will be working on improving it even further in 2016.
In 2015, GSJ became an Open Access journal which allows for all of our articles to be available online to read without a subscription or fee. It also allows for eFirst articles, which means that articles are available online for people to read soon after they are published and before they are assigned to a specific issue. This is wonderful for those readers who just want to read one or two articles when they have the chance. This also allows for people to start reading new content before it is assigned to an issue, which can take a while.
GSJ is excited about moving forward as technology advances and we look forward to creating new and exciting ways to read the journal.