Over the past few decades, a change has been brewing in how people want information and how associations and other publishers provide content. The Web and digital versions of newspapers, for example, have become increasingly important as readers have shifted away from having physical papers delivered to their homes. People want and expect instant access to information.
We’ve watched these changes for years and taken action to meet them and the changing desires of our members and AJPH subscribers. AJPH articles have been available online for years. We’ve released First Look articles as a way to share information more quickly. Fifteen years ago, we even moved the AJPH version of record from our print edition to the digital one.
Over the past three years, as the world dealt with COVID-19, the shift to digital really ramped up within the publishing and news industries, especially for associations.
Looking at trends within the industry and our membership, member comments, and what we offer, we’ve decided to embrace this shift and spend 2023 transitioning AJPH to a digital-first publication. I’ll miss flipping through the glossy pages of AJPH, but it’s time to readjust our thinking and continue the evolution of AJPH to ensure that it maintains its status as the leading resource for impactful public health research and information.
The positive impacts are many: AJPH will reduce its contribution to the climate crisis by reducing the number of copies of the journal being printed and mailed, our digital offerings will expand, and resources will be reallocated to more popular and effective mediums, including short videos, podcasts, and more.
We hope you’re as excited about the coming changes as we are.
Of course, this was not an easy decision. Providing print copies of the journal to members who want them is an APHA member benefit, and we don’t want to change the format of that benefit unless the positives vastly outweigh the negatives. In this instance, we believe that’s the case.
To show our ongoing commitment to members and readers who desire it, we’re developing a full-issue PDF to provide a cover-to-cover experience for those who wish to receive it as part of their APHA membership. People will be able to print the PDF and save it to up to six devices. We’re making upgrades to the AJPH e-Reader edition as well, which will be available as an individual purchase with a discount for members or at a reduced monthly subscription rate.
For members accustomed to receiving AJPH in print, the shift will happen at your renewal date. As you renew, you’ll have an opportunity to receive the new full-issue PDF. Of course, all members will continue to enjoy full access to all AJPH articles, including those dating back to 1911.
Print is not disappearing entirely, it’s simply not at the forefront anymore. Organizations subscribing to AJPH outside of any APHA membership will be able to purchase AJPH in print to make it available as a resource in their libraries if they wish. In instances where someone wants to purchase a physical issue, we’ll print the needed copies on-demand.
We hope you’ll join us in embracing these changes in the same spirit that we made them, with an eye toward a more versatile, accessible, and climate-friendly AJPH. For more information on this transition, check out our FAQs at www.apha.org/ajph and stay tuned to the journal’s home page, www.ajph.org, for updates.
19. Years Ago
Pitfalls of and Controversies in Cluster Randomization Trials
The issue of choosing the unit of inference is sometimes referred to as the “unit of analysis problem.” We believe that this phrase can be misleading, since it confuses the choice of analytic unit with the need to account for clustering. Similarly, statements sometimes seen in the literature to the effect that “analysis by individual” is incorrect for cluster randomization trials or that the “allocation unit should be the unit of analysis” are also misleading. In general, an analysis at the individual level that properly accounts for the effect of clustering is equivalent to an appropriately weighted cluster-level analysis. Thus, the issue of fundamental importance in this context is best referred to as the unit of inference, rather than the unit of analysis.
From AJPH, March 2004, p. 418
47. Years Ago
A Bayesian Approach To Health Project Estimation
[A]nyone trying to study anything in a poor country hears time and again that practically any statistic he finds is useless. Admitting this, he must decide what to do next. There are three possible approaches. The first rejects statistical analysis and depends on the opinion of individuals with long experience in the field. . . . The second approach ignores the problem and proceeds to apply the whole gamut of classical statistical methods to the existing data. . . . There is a third way . . . Bayesian statistical techniques can create a measure of output in a way that lays all the assumptions open to refutation, but also permits the use of expert opinion where recorded numbers are nonexistent or hopelessly inadequate.
From AJPH, August 1976, p. 748
Biography
