National Public Health Week, firearm violence, tobacco control, and a thank you to our reviewers
April 2018
From the Editor-in-Chief
Dear AJPM reader,
In conjunction with National Public Health Week and in response to increasing levels of gun violence and the March for Our Lives event, AJPM is making approximately 40 peer-reviewed research articles on the topic of gun violence available on our website and on Science Direct, completely free of charge. Gun violence continues to be a major public health issue in the United States yet remains under-studied due to congressional limits placed on the U.S. CDC in conducting surveillance and research on firearm-related injury. The public health community can clearly play a leading role in decreasing injury and deaths from guns but developing effective interventions to do so will require reducing barriers and increasing support for firearm related research.
The American College of Preventive Medicine, one of AJPM’s sponsoring societies, advocated in a 2016 policy statement for a “comprehensive public health approach to addressing the issue of gun violence” as well as “effective policies and legislation at all levels of the government that are intended to prevent and reduce injuries and deaths related to firearms.” By making available and continuing to publish research on these topics, AJPM hopes to be an active partner in furthering these goals.
We hope you enjoy this new resource, and be sure to check out our April issue.
The editorial office would like to thank the individuals who gave generously of their time to review manuscripts submitted to AJPM in 2017. Peer reviewers are essential to ensuring our publications are both evidence-based and represent unique contributions to preventive medicine and public health literature.
