The Return of the Graphic Medicine Review!

guest post by A. David Lewis

Step Up to the Plate with the Return of Our Journal

To paraphrase “Casey at the Bat,” the outlook wasn’t brilliant for the Graphic Medicine Review that day.

This was late 2022, as COVID-19 was slowly loosening its paralyzing grip on much of the world, when my contact at the MCPHS University Library e-mailed me with some unfortunate news: Though they were delighted to host the inaugural instance of a journal dedicated to Graphic Medicine scholarship and works, there was no room for it in the upcoming 2023 budget. The online platform had been partially supported by moneys from the Popular Culture Association and the Network of National Libraries of Medicine, but the expense, particularly for an open-access resource, was too great in light of physical spaces reopening and costs once again rising.

I largely took this in stride. That is, I felt we had made a good effort, particularly in the massive shadow of a worldwide pandemic. It was similar to how I regarded the 2020 New England Graphic Medicine (NEGM) Virtual Summit; we had pivoted deftly from a local, on-site conference to a fully virtual one in just under a month, and the response was a positive one from all those who were seeking any degree of scholarship and camaraderie in those early days of the crisis. GMR had been likewise – a project launched during the lockdown with the best of intentions in attempting to connect the many Graphic Medicine scholars, experts, and enthusiasts operating out of their homes and domiciles.

Little did I know that there were extra innings in store for our GMR team.

Shortly after New Year’s Day 2023, I received an e-mail from Mary Piorun at the UMass Chan Medical School with the Subject line, “The Graphic Medicine Review.” In the message, she politely inquired about the journal’s status, as she had heard it was closing down; there might be the opportunity, in fact, to have it join UMass Chan’s current repertoire of online, open-access journals (including The Journal of Global Radiology or The Journal of eScience Librarianship). Did GMR want to join their cadre of journals?

The answer was an enthusiastic yes, and the next several months involved transferring the first two volumes of GMR to UMass Chan’s Janeway system while also setting up all new settings and protocols for its relaunch. Now, here at the start of the 2023-2024 academic year, I’m delighted to say that the journal is ready to go and open for all submissions. In fact, with the move to UMass Chan, we have an even better submissions process in place and welcome a wider array of potential works: articles and analytical writings, of course, but also editorials, interviews, reviews, and original comics. It’s my hope that our all-new home will compel more people than ever to contribute to its lineup and give open-access scholarship a try.

So, we are back on the field and ready to play. Swing away, folks. graphicmedicinereview.com

Author Guidelines at https://publishing.escholarship.umassmed.edu/gmr/site/author-guidelines/