Being an editor is both a privilege and a thankless task. One of the privileges is the opportunity, through editorials, to express somewhat personal views in a relatively unrestricted manner. A guest editor or I write and sign all editorials in Injury Prevention; in other journals editorials are written collectively while others have few or no editorials. Personally, I treasure the opportunity to write these little essays because I hope they may influence the thinking and actions of some readers. Some of my editorials have dealt with basic journal-related topics,¹ others have discussed papers in that issue² and occasionally these editorials have addressed personal thoughts such as the need to thank mentors and colleagues before they die.³ The present editorial highlights a few problems on a long list of items that requires more discussion and then some action. They represent “unfinished business”.

THE ROLE OF PUBLISHING

For much of my life as a researcher I had the naïve notion that doing a good study and getting it published in a good journal was a major step towards enhancing prevention. Over the years I’ve come to realize that doing so is actually quite a small step in that direction. Hence, the first item of unfinished business is finding ways to make publications a stronger element in achieving our goals. I doubt if anyone has any simple solutions but I expect part of the answer will included equal elements of attracting the media and other advocacy strategies.

I don’t want to be misunderstood: To say that having a paper published does not achieve the ultimate …