Abstract
I provide a brief personal introduction including my professional background, interests, and qualifications. I invite authors with a wide diversity of interests to submitted manuscripts to the journal. My overarching goals is to improve the journal’s impact through (1) strategic partnerships with professional organizations and research consortia, (2) publication of targeted Special Collections focused on topics of interest to the field and (3) improved efficiency in manuscript submission and review.
Keywords
Kath M Bogie
I am honored and highly delighted to write this editorial as the new Editor-in-Chief for Journal of Rehabilitation and Assistive Technologies Engineering (JRATE). I am deeply indebted to Garth Johnson, inaugural Editor-in-Chief for the journal who has provided a strong foundation on which to build JRATE, including getting the journal indexed on PubMed Central (PMC) and Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI). We are fortunate that Garth has agreed to continue to provide guidance as an Emeritus member of the Editorial Board.
Kath Bogie, D.Phil, FAIMBE is a Research Career Scientist, Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center and Professor, Department of Orthopaedics, Case Western Reserve University. Dr. Bogie has an international reputation in translational research and leads interdisciplinary teams to develop patient-centred interventions that meet the complex, multifactorial problems of wound management. Her unique contributions include evidence-based preventive measures, encompassing biomarkers and bioinformatics for better understanding of risk complemented with smart technology development. Dr. Bogie recently completed a 4 years term on the Wound Healing Society Board of Directors and Chairs the Education Committee. Dr. Bogie is co-Chair for the International Organization for Standardization microclimate standards development and serves on the Rehabilitation Engineering Society of North America (RESNA) Standards Committee on Wheelchair and Related Seating. She is also the RESNA liaison with the National Pressure Injury Advisory Panel, where she services on the Research Committee and the Standards Committee. Dr. Bogie is an elected Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (2021), recognized for outstanding contributions to wound biotechnology development and patient-centred pressure injury management. She has received continuous funding for over 20 years, from the DoD SCI Research Program, VA Rehabilitation Service, the Craig H. Neilsen Foundation and the PVA. She has published over 75 papers and chapters and holds 5 patents. Dr. Bogie’s translational research focus enables rapid progress toward changing people’s lives.
Our aim for the journal is to ensure that we publish the highest quality experimental and theoretical research papers and technical notes that clearly and significantly advance our knowledge of all stages of development, characterisation, fabrication, modelling and practical application of rehabilitative and assistive technologies: from the lab to the end-user.
As we continue to expand the journal as a recognised authority in the field of rehabilitation and assistive technologies, we are delighted to continue our association with the American Orthotic & Prosthetic Association. We are also partnering with AGE-WELL and ICORR to publish articles of interest and Special Collections.
I would be delighted to receive your recent research, either as a regular article, or in the form of Short Communications. If you are interested in submitting your paper please refer to the manuscript submission guidelines. In order to ensure that your submissions are efficiently reviewed, we have clarified the submission process to align JRATE with comparable journals. Manuscripts should follow the ICMJE Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals, including completing a conflict of interest for each author. The relevant reporting guidelines should be followed depending on the type of study–a checklist wizard is available via the website.
As we look to the future growth and direction of JRATE, I want to express my gratitude to members of Editorial Board and Associate Editors for their service. As JRATE evolves I thank founding members for their service. I am delighted to introduce two new Associate Editors for JRATE: Justin F. Gallagher CEng MIMechE FHEA, University of Leeds, UK and Peter Worsley mCSP PhD, University of Southampton, UK. Now the world is opening up again, I look forward to meeting many of you in person at RehabWeek 2022.
We are also seeking Guest Editors for Special Collections on topics of high current interest that fall within the scope of the journal. I would like to take this opportunity to encourage you to read our Guest Editor Guidelines and submit your proposal.
With any novel assistive technology successful translation depends on end-user acceptance, but all too often then end-users voice is not considered. Our next Special Collection will be on The end-user as a member of the research team. I would be happy to hear from you if you would be interested in serving as a Guest Editor and/or submitting a paper for this collection.
I look forward to receiving your submission and to working together on developing the journal as it evolves to reflect the changes in our readers interests and priorities.
All the best,