Abstract
In summary, JALA readers read JALA carefully. A typical JALA reader:
has been reading JALA for 3 years and
reports having read or looked through all four of the last four issues.
JALA readers value their copies of JALA:
93% save them and routinely refer to issues more than once;
35% save them for 2 years or more; and
35% routinely share their copies with others.
JALA meets reader needs:
87% report that, at some point in the past year, they took action at least once as a direct result of reading an article in JALA.
With respect to journal publishing industry benchmarks, these results reveal that JALA is comfortably ahead of the curve in terms of reader satisfaction. We want to keep it that way. In fact, we would like to see JALA become an even more important and highly valued component of our readers’ professional toolkits.
Fortunately, the members of the JALA Editorial Board represent an impressive and dependable brain trust, as does the ALA Board of Directors, the ALA Steering Committee, the many volunteers who serve within JALA's extensive peer review network, and JALA authors themselves. JALA relies heavily on the informed guidance provided by this collection of interested and enthusiastic lab automation professionals. It is with grateful thanks to them that the 2005 JALA readership survey achieved such impressive results.
Going forward, however, we want to build another dimension of regular feedback into this brain trust. To date, we have relied largely on user statistics from JALA Online (http://www.journals.elsevierhealth.com/periodicals/xyjala) and Elsevier ScienceDirect (http://www.sciencedirect.com) to measure what JALA readers-at-large find most interesting and useful. This information is helpful, but we want to know more. We want to ensure that the voices of our readers-at-large are heard on a regular basis and in specific terms.
With this goal in mind, ALA members will be asked to complete four short, online surveys within the next 12 months. The surveys will ask specific questions about recently published issues of JALA. Responses will be tallied confidentially, reported collectively to the JALA editorial staff, and ultimately shared with all readers via this column.
When the first survey arrives in your e-mail inbox, we hope you will take a moment to complete it. Your opinion is important to us, and we appreciate your willingness to share it with us.
Sincerely,
Mark F. Russo, Ph.D.
