Welcome to a new issue of the IPDJ. Although the journal team is already working on our next issue – a special issue with an in-depth analysis of the caring system in Norway led by colleagues in Bergen at the Western Norway University of Applied Sciences – we are taking a pause to reflect on this issue and to acknowledge its rich vein of contents.

The variety of the articles we publish in each issue never ceases to amaze me. Some submissions come in from previously unknown sources, as is the way with most academic journals. Others originate from emails sent by authors asking whether the IPDJ might be interested in a particular topic or project. Then, there are those that come via the members of the International Practice Development Collaborative (IPDC) and the IPDJ editorial board. In addition, our editorial board members are expected to submit an article every two years – not too arduous, you might think, but time passes quickly and the board members, like other authors,  have other publishing obligations to meet.

As the journal’s academic editor and a practice developer, focused on person-centred processes and outcomes, it is a highlight of my role to see someone who has sent their first tentative email enquiring about the possibility of publication then going on to be published. I like to imagine the joy this brings to the novice authors, their family and colleagues. In this issue, for example, I am especially delighted that one of Queen Margaret University’s final year BSc nursing students is being published. A great time in one’s career to achieve a first publication, and something I would never have considered when I was a student nurse. Indeed, I can recall being seriously deterred from publishing by receiving quite unfriendly and hostile reviews as I began my own journey of writing for publication. One review is etched in my memory for all the wrong reasons; this reviewer told me I could not write and should not bother trying to do so as it was unlikely I would ever be published. This may well have influenced my belief that there is a writer in each and all of us and my determination to support new authors. Writing is one of the mediums we use to tell stories to ourselves and to share them with others; we are storied beings through and through.

So it is that this issue of IPDJ – without any significant advance planning on our part – has a focus on critical or in-depth reflective accounts. The first section has two strong original research articles and the remainder of the issue is richly populated by reflections and commentaries. Once again, it is our pleasure to publish an issue that highlights how useful reflections on practice development can be in adding to our knowledge about person-centred experience and person-centred cultures. Developing knowledge from and in practice contexts is at the heart of applied and person-based professions such as nursing and other healthcare disciplines. At IPDJ we are committed to facilitating potential authors to achieve a publication wherever possible. We will support and mentor new authors to get through the system and we will provide constructive and essentially person-centred reviews and feedback in a timely way to all authors.

I trust you will see the proof of our processes in the articles in this issue. Perhaps as a result of reading this editorial and this issue, you might now consider yourself as a potential author and get in touch about something you have to share.

This article by Jan Dewing is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial 3.0 License.