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Journal of Physical Therapy Education: Birth to 16 Years

Background and Purpose. The inaugural issue of the Journal of Physical Therapy Education was published in 1987 by the Education Section of the American Physical Therapy Association. The purpose of this article is to describe the evolution of the Journal and its contents across its first 16 years of publication. Sample. The 353 indexable items found in the 37 issues of the Journal published between 1987 and 2002 were reviewed. Methods. Each article was reviewed by one of two authors to determine the article topic and type of contribution. If applicable, the type of academic program, type of research, and research sample were also determined. Trends across four 4‐year phases were also studied. Results. The journal has reflected the contributions of 34 different board members and 243 primary authors affiliated with 155 institutions. Teaching/learning methods, clinical education, and curriculum were the three most frequently addressed topics. Research articles were the most common (63%) type of article published. Physical therapist preparation programs were the most common (88%) type of academic program addressed within articles. Quantitative descriptive research was the most common (36%) type of research represented and program students (46%) were the most frequent research sample. Important trends across time included an increase in research articles and a decrease in method/model articles; an increase in articles about graduate physical therapist preparation programs and a decrease in those about baccalaureate programs; and a more even distribution of research methods, with a decrease in quantitative descriptive research and an increase in qualitative descriptive work and in articles in which differences between study groups were analyzed. Discussion and Conclusion. The trends in article types and research methods reflect a maturation of the scholarship of physical therapy education across the 16 years in which the Journal of Physical Therapy Education has been published.