Editorial: Ushering in a new year and reaching out to the next generation of family doctors

摘要

This edition is the first with our new publisher, AOSIS, an established open-access scholarly publisher founded by the third editor of the South African Family Practice (SAFP) journal, Prof. Pierre de Villiers. The move towards AOSIS introduced a change in the SAFP’s journal style, with the print version of the journal published as four parts per year (as opposed to the previous format of six editions per year). The journal will still be published online at www.safpj.co.za, and accepted research papers will be published once copy-editing has been completed. Each of the four parts will continue to have an appropriate mix of content designed to the needs of our readership: the continuous professional development (CPD) section (contributed by the academic programmes and Rural Doctors’ Association of South Africa), research papers and the ‘Mastering your fellowship’ section aimed at helping registrars and their supervisors prepare for the national exit exam. This edition also includes part 1 of a new four-part series, entitled ‘National Health Insurance Unpacked’, by South African Academy of Family Physicians (SAAFP) president Prof. Bob Mash (in consultation with Dr Nicholas Crisp, a consultant for the National Health Insurance (NHI) Fund Office at the Ministry of Health in Pretoria). This series intends to provide up-to-date information on NHI and what is really planned (with a focus on addressing the gaps identified in the 2019 SAAFP survey1 ). Furthermore, we would like to inform authors, reviewers and readers of a revised policy per submission type, as accepted by the new editorial board (see Table 1).