Abstract
Thanks to Reda Ozuna and Dave Zeman for administering the SurveyMonkey communications survey to AAVLD members in 2021. Significant changes to the association’s communications tools have occurred since the last survey in 2017, including an overhaul to the AAVLD website, and we were eager to gather feedback regarding these changes as well as communication within and about the AAVLD as a whole.
Of the 849 survey links sent to AAVLD members via email, 83 members responded. Below is a summary:
The response rate of almost 10% was better than average for online surveys.
The average year of joining AAVLD membership for respondents was 2006.
>60% of respondents attend the annual meeting every year or every other year.
Areas of professional interest of respondents, in descending order, were: Pathology, Molecular Diagnostics (tie), Management (tie), Virology, Other, Bacteriology (tie), Epidemiology (tie), Serology, Toxicology, and Computer Services.
Several of the survey questions pertained specifically to JVDI:
The most important attributes of JVDI, ranked in descending order, were relevance of material to continuing education, relevance of material to current events in veterinary medicine, relevance of material to everyday job.
The relevance of types of articles published in JVDI was ranked from most to least relevant: emerging diseases, zoonotic diseases, next-generation technology, test validation studies, case reports, disease prevalence surveys, quality assurance, and well-known diseases in new species. This ranking was unchanged from the 2017 communications survey, with the exception of quality assurance moving from least relevant to second-least relevant.
Of the special issues published in JVDI since 2017: 42% found value in the clostridial diseases issue, 42% in the next-generation sequencing issue, 38% in the backyard poultry issue, 35% in the PCR best practices issue, 25% in the laboratory data enhancement issue, and 19% found value in the racehorse pathology issue.
95% of respondents encountered no difficulty in the manuscript submission process.
Of particular importance, 84% of respondents favored online-only publication of JVDI. We are currently investigating with SAGE, our publisher, the options for moving to online-only publication. Generally, the respondents were satisfied with JVDI and considered it relevant to diagnosticians. The special issues have been well received, and respondents suggested more review articles throughout the year in regular issues.
Related to broader communications within the organization:
>68% of respondents were very or somewhat satisfied with the newsletter.
>54% of respondents were very or somewhat satisfied with the new AAVLD website, with 40% neutral about website changes.
Several comments for general improvement of the website were received, further supporting the need for continued improvement before the site will be fully functional and easy to navigate.
Regarding social media platforms, respondents interact with Facebook (70%), Twitter (14%), and Instagram (17%) regularly. However, when asked how important (on a scale of 1 = not important to 10 = very important) having a social media presence was for AAVLD, the average response was 4.6. Almost 78% responded “no” or “maybe” when asked if they would interact with content from the AAVLD on social media.
AAVLD members are generally well satisfied with the quality and timeliness of interactions with AAVLD staff.
Overall, we gained valuable information about the JVDI and about communications within the AAVLD in general. Comments regarding the website made it clear that more work is needed in this area, and the formation of a new website maintenance subcommittee within the AAVLD Communications Committee will hopefully begin to address shortcomings. JVDI appears to be fulfilling its Statement of Purpose, which was approved by the Executive Board in 2016, and reads: “The Journal of Veterinary Diagnostic Investigation is the official journal of the Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians. The mission of the Journal is to educate by informing readers of progress in veterinary laboratory medicine and related fields of endeavor. The key objectives of the JVDI are to promote the science of veterinary laboratory medicine and the betterment of animal and public health.” We appreciated the feedback and welcome further comments regarding the AAVLD and its journal, the JVDI.