For decades, AHIMA has offered a variety of publications to and on behalf of its members, all of which are ultimately aimed at supporting ever-better practice and lifelong learning in health information management. Nowhere is that more evident than in its academic, peer-reviewed publication, which for decades has published original research that documents health information (HI) practices, education, and research, as well as interdisciplinary collaboration between HI professionals and other disciplines. Until this year, that research was published under the title Perspectives in Health Information Management—but just as recent years have brought important changes to the profession, so too is 2025 bringing an important change to its scholarly journal.
The Editorial Board of Perspectives recently announced that the publication is changing its name to Advances in Health Information Science and Practice (AHISP) and invited AHIMA members—who are readers, authors, and reviewers—to take a fresh look. We caught up with Editor-in-Chief Susan H. Fenton, PhD, RHIA, ACHIP, FAMIA, the Dr. Doris L. Ross Professor and the first McWilliams Vice Dean for Education at the D. Bradley McWilliams School of Biomedical Informatics at UTHealth Houston. Dr. Fenton answered a few questions about the name change—and what it signals for AHIMA’s academic journal of record.
Dr. Fenton, can you share a bit with us about what first drew you to service on the journal’s Editorial Board? When did you first join, and what did you initially hope to achieve?
I believe that a profession cannot continue to evolve and grow unless it has a strong peer-reviewed publication. That has been Perspectives for several decades. I decided that this would be my primary service effort for AHIMA. I began this in 2023, taking the handoff from Dr. Melanie Brodnik. I had a whole list of goals for the journal. Many remain – they include streamlining the review process, recruiting new and innovative publications, and improving the reputation of the journal.
What do you see as the relevance or function of an academic research journal to HI practitioners who might not be researchers themselves?
Oh my – research is so important to a professional field! While many practitioners do not want to be researchers, it is vitally important that the HI field become highly evidence based. This means that projects and initiatives will use research in the planning. High-quality research is needed to advance the practice of HI and science.
After joining the Editorial Board, what was your assessment of the journal’s strengths and its opportunities for growth?
The strengths of the journal were that it was publicly available online, meaning there was no barrier to reader access. It has also been indexed in PubMed for most of the time it has been published. Since PubMed is a major resource for everyone in healthcare this expands the exposure to its manuscripts. There are many opportunities for growth, including standard practices such as citation tracking, document object identifier (DOI) assignment, and, hopefully one day, an impact factor. These things would help the journal attract additional authors and readers.
In your 2025 editorial introducing the new name—Advances in Health Information Science and Practice (AHISP)—you share a bit about why the Editorial Board decided to make a change. Could you expound on that here? What makes this name a better fit for the content and the profession’s needs at this moment, which you refer to as a “new era?”
Well, as the board was talking, we realized that the word perspective wasn’t as strong as we might desire. A perspective on something is a view about something. Additionally, health information management was felt to be self-limiting. It is not that HIM is not important, it is; however, the name should invite important work from the larger health information field. The board wanted a title to more strongly indicate the commitment to both research and practice. A list of about 12 names was proposed at the meeting and everyone on the board was given the opportunity to vote on their 3 top names in rank order. Advances in Health Information Science and Practice (AHISP) was selected as the top choice by a majority. This name expands the area coverage to health information and invites manuscripts that are both research (science) and applied (practice). We also want to hear from educators. Building on the past perspectives, we now want to move more to science.
In addition to the name, you’ve also made some strategic upgrades to the author experience at AHISP. Can you detail those? What feedback had you previously gotten that inspired those changes, particularly the online submission system and a move to continuous publication?
There are literally thousands of peer-reviewed journals published today, including many for the health information field. It is important that authors get their research and other work published in a timely manner. Editors also have to keep in mind that reviewers are generally volunteers! There have been complaints from authors who submitted to Perspectives regarding the time it took for review. This is important because when an article is under review by one journal it cannot be submitted elsewhere. Several changes were made to address this. The first was the introduction of an online submission system. Previously, email was used to manage the process. Another change was revising the required reviewer feedback. Previously, there was a long list of questions. We focused on the most important. Finally, as the new era begins, we will move to continuous publication, meaning someone who submitted their manuscript in January with final acceptance in March will not wait until June for publication. These and other changes are very exciting!
As with any research journal, only a select few of the people who engage with AHISP will be authors. Most will be readers, and a few (or hopefully more than a few) others will be reviewers. What updates have you made in 2025 for those groups?
For the reviewers, the process is now online, meaning that they no longer have to download the manuscript and the Word document to review the manuscript. Everything is now available on the online review system. They also now have fewer prompts that require their input, streamlining the process.
As for the readers, they will now be able to access the manuscripts via the DOI and download a PDF of the manuscript with the citation information included. This is a definite upgrade.
Currently, AHISP is open to all readers, regardless of membership status. How do you believe that helps AHIMA members and AHISP authors?
For almost as long as I’ve been an AHIMA member (~40 years), the health information profession has struggled to have people understand what we do. By providing the public with access to the content, we can extend our audience and help educate them regarding the importance of what we do.
What are your next priorities for AHISP as an academic publication?
I would like to get the citation tracking information on the publication site, including how many times each manuscript has been cited in other indexed publications and tracking of the number of downloads of each manuscript to track the impact. While we will categorize the manuscripts in AHISP, I have a goal of doing a special call on various important topics each year.
Eventually, the board would like to apply for an impact factor, knowing that we will start low and continue to build.
How do you hope people engage with AHISP?
Oh wow – what a great question! I hope that students and educators find content in AHISP they can use to learn and educate on important health information science and practice. I hope that researchers will publish their findings with us! I would like for our practitioners to use the research and other information to support their evidence-based practice.