Foreword

As Seminars in Speech and Language (SSL) transitions from publishing primarily topical issues to inviting open submissions year-round, the mission and scope have been refined to meet this change and the changing landscape of service delivery in speech-language pathology. Transitions are an opportunity to change, and as editors-in-chief, we hope to make SSL a primary source for clinical solutions for practitioners in the field. In line, we encourage researchers and clinicians to submit their research for considered publication in SSL across various article types. These include research articles, review articles, clinical seminars, and invited articles for forums or special issues. Research articles present original research and can include quantitative, qualitative, or mixed method studies, surveys, or pilot and feasibility data. Review articles can include systematic, scoping, or historical reviews on a clinically relevant topic. Clinical seminars can include case studies, clinical programs, or tutorials on a clinical topic of interest. More information about article types can be found with the author guidelines for SSL (https://web.thieme.com/media/ita/pubid-1380296074.pdf).

We have constituted an editorial board that includes continuing and new members who represent the range of practice areas in speech-language pathology; see list at the end of this foreword. With a larger editorial board, we have been able to provide a relatively quick turnaround from submission to review, to decisions, to publication. We engaged the editorial board in revising the mission and scope for the journal as follows.

Mission and scope of SSL: SSL is a peer-reviewed journal that covers the entire spectrum of speech-language pathology. Each published article, whether invited or openly submitted, serves as a seminar whereby readers are provided with learning outcomes that can be achieved through reading the article. The mission of SSL is to improve speech-language pathology services by helping professionals and pre-professionals in their career development and lifelong learning. Topics for submissions can include theoretical questions or issues, diagnostic procedures, screening and assessment techniques, treatment protocols, intervention studies, service delivery, management practices, and scholarship on teaching and learning. These can be across any area within the scope of practice for speech-language pathology.

With this new mission and scope, SSL will consider manuscripts that address service delivery in terms of areas of practice, service delivery domains, and professional practice domains. Practice areas include fluency, speech production, language, cognition, voice, resonance, feeding and swallowing, and auditory rehabilitation. Service delivery domains include collaboration, counseling, prevention and wellness, screening, assessment, treatment, modalities of communication, technology, instrumentation, and populations or systems. Professional practice domains include advocacy and outreach, supervision, education, administration/leadership, and research regarding how research is produced and consumed.

SSL's legacy of providing its readership with invited topical content curated by leading experts in the field will be preserved under our new publishing model. Invited topical forums, comprising three to five articles on a clinical topic, will appear alongside openly submitted manuscripts in select issues. Additionally, select issues will be entirely topical, in which issue editors invite all content. As an example of how our new publishing model preserves the legacy of topical content in SSL, we are particularly proud of our previous issue (Volume 44, Issue 2), Innovations in Voice Care for Transgender and Non-Binary People guest edited by Dr. Adrienne Hancock. We have an exciting lineup of forums and dedicated issue topics for the upcoming year. In the meantime, we look forward to receiving your manuscripts for considered publication in SSL.

As we embark on this new publishing model and implement our revised mission and scope at SSL, we are steadfast in our commitment to upholding the highest standards of rigor and excellence in research and scholarship in our field. We look forward to working with you, our valued readers and contributors, to advance the field of speech-language pathology. If you have an idea or questions about the submission to publication process, please contact the editors-in-chief (https://web.thieme.com/edboards/SSL_Editorial_Board.html). We are always happy to discuss new ideas and innovations suitable for publication in SSL.

The SSL editorial board members include Erin J. Bush, Kathryn L. Cabbage, Teresa Cardon, Christopher D. Constantino, Amy L. Donaldson, Virginia L. Dubasik, Maria Kapantzoglou, Toby Macrae, Monique T. Mills, Jennifer Mozeiko, Chorong Oh, Ilias Papathanasiou, C. Melanie Schuele, Pradyumn Srivastava, and Julie A.G. Stierwalt.

Publication History

Article published online:
23 May 2023