Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine 51-11 | Page 3

J Rehabil Med 2019; 51: 817
EDITORIAL
FIFTY YEARS OF THE JOURNAL OF REHABILITATION MEDICINE
The start
Fifty years ago, in 1969, the Scandinavian Journal of
Rehabilitation Medicine was started by the first Editor-
in-Chief, Professor Olle Höök. He served as Chief Edi-
tor for 30 years and was succeeded by Professor Gunnar
Grimby in 1999. The journal changed name to Journal
of Rehabilitation Medicine (JRM) in 2001. In 2012, Pro-
fessor Bengt Sjölund was appointed Editor-in-Chief and
was succeeded in 2016 by the current two Chief Editors,
Professors Kristian Borg and Henk Stam. The Journal
of Rehabilitation Medicine – Clinical Communications
(JRM-CC) was started in 2018, with a focus on short
communications, clinical cases, commentaries, letters,
PhD thesis summaries and special reports.
Important steps
JRM has been the official journal of, or has been pu-
blished in association with, several international PRM
bodies, including the International Society of Physical
and Rehabilitation Medicine (ISPRM), UEMS Board
and Section of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine
and the European Academy of Rehabilitation Medicine
(EARM). JRM which is owned by the Foundation for
Rehabilitation Information, has been published by this
foundation since 2007, assuring that it is a non-profit
journal and totally independent.
However, the most important step for JRM was taken
on 1 January 2017, when the journal introduced im-
mediate and total open access. Subscriptions were re-
placed by publication fees and JRM entered the modern
era of scientific publication in which the researcher or
other lay persons retrieve scientific articles directly
from the Internet. As a consequence, from 2018 the
printed paper version was ended. In order to accom-
modate new readers, a lay abstract was introduced,
together with other modernizations, including a new
layout of the web page and articles.
Fiftieth anniversary
To celebrate the 50 th anniversary of JRM we have
invited senior colleagues representing different areas
of Rehabilitation Medicine to provide their views on
the content of the first four issues of JRM (1969–1972)
and to comment on the impact these articles have had
on the development of research and clinical areas. The
first article in reference to the anniversary, by Professor
Gunnar Grimby, appears in this issue.
Future steps
From January 2020 JRM will no longer be published in
“issues”; instead articles will be published immediately
they have been accepted for publication and finally
approved by the authors.
A monthly Newsletter will announce the articles pu-
blished each month. You can sign up on the website to
receive the Newsletter (www.medicaljournals.se/jrm).
Stockholm, Uppsala and Rotterdam December 2019
Kristian Borg, Agneta Andersson and Henk Stam
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC license. www.medicaljournals.se/jrm
Journal Compilation © 2019 Foundation of Rehabilitation Information. ISSN 1650-1977
doi: 10.2340/16501977-2634