Letter from the Editors/Call for Letters
Welcome to the Rowan Osteopathic Medicine Journal (ROMJ), a student-led and student peer reviewed journal created by students for students!
ROMJ was born over a hot pot of coffee and a shared frustration of not having enough research experience at the medical student level. The cornerstone of ROMJ is that it serves as a conduit for medical students to contribute to the ever-growing and dynamic scope of medical knowledge by participating in all facets of research: as researchers, as authors, and as reviewers.
Too often, students find their research experience at the medical student level limited to conducting research as an investigator. Even more prevalent is students’ belief that they would have to spend hundreds or even thousands of dollars on submission fees to get their research published. Medical students are burdened with uncertainty in the research world, hesitant to commit their valuable time and effort to research projects with the dim hope of becoming a published author. Too often, valuable and substantial research goes unnoticed due to costly journal fees or publication refusals.
ROMJ was created to expand medical education in the realm of research and afford all students who perform quality research the opportunity to be published in order to have their work recognized and valued by the medical community. Currently, few opportunities exist for this kind of learning in medical school. ROMJ enables students to learn how to express themselves scientifically, learn what makes a good paper, and gain experience with peer review. Students are empowered to run every aspect of the journal and make content decisions with limited faculty oversight. This creates an environment in which students become better scientists and residents, develop stronger skills in critically analyzing literature, and become better scientific writers.
For these reasons, ROMJ has adopted an open access publishing model that does not require fees for submission and requires no prior research experience to either serve as a reviewer or submit as an author. We wanted to establish a program in which medical students can learn and perfect the art of medical writing and experience the full spectrum of medical research. Welcome to ROMJ.
Sincerely,
Pat and Jon
Co-Founders and Co-Editors-in-Chief