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Celebrating 25 years of viewpoints.

Have Viewpoints really been around for 25 years? Going through past issues of the Journal, I was surprised to find that the first Viewpoint was published in the 1990 December issue by Rosie Wickert and titled ‘Literacy for all – what does it really mean?’ (Wickert, 1990) My research revealed that there have been over 74 Viewpoints published and since 2005 most issues have featured a Viewpoint article although there were periods when they did seem scarce. Time to celebrate, acknowledge and review the role and function of Viewpoints! What is the purpose of Viewpoints you might ask? Our author guidelines state that ‘Viewpoints provide a forum for the debate and discussion of occupational therapy issues and related concerns’ with ‘authors encouraged to discuss topical and controversial issues. . .in a manner that sheds light on or challenges established practices and beliefs’ (www.onlinelibrary. wiley.com). Many journals include what might be termed as ‘opinion pieces’ where authors can put forward well-developed arguments for change which include evidence-based recommendations for practice or policy, highlighting issues that need serious debate within the profession. The British Journal of Occupational Therapy has ‘Opinion’, whereas the American Journal of Occupational Therapy has ‘The Issue’. Sadly our Viewpoints have not resulted in stimulating lots of debate prompting a rush of letters to the editors or counter arguments in other Viewpoints. What sort of topics have been covered in our Viewpoints? There have been many Viewpoints discussing topics related to occupational therapy practice with children and also neurological occupational therapy. Recently there have been more Viewpoints challenging our readership to consider if practices are occupationally focussed (Joosten, 2015; Parnell & Wilding, 2010; Rodger, Ashburner, Cartmill & Bourke-Taylor, 2010), whereas other Viewpoints have challenged occupational therapists to embrace evidence-based practice (Gustafsson, Molineux & Bennett, 2014; Waghorn & Hielscher, 2015). Recent Viewpoints have highlighted concerns related to preparation of graduate occupational therapists (Fortune, Ryan & Adamson, 2013; Hamilton et al., 2015; Larkin & Watchorn, 2012) and some drawing our attention to the topic of extended practice into emerging areas (Slootjes, McKinstry & Kenny, 2016) or advanced practice (Broome, 2015). If the purpose of Viewpoints is to really challenge and change policy, shaping the direction of our profession, are our Viewpoints creating enough debate or addressing the major issues facing us as Australian occupational therapists? Should our Viewpoints be more reflective of the issues being debated at the meeting table of the Occupational Therapy Australia Limited Board? Only a handful of Viewpoints address political issues such as environmental sustainability, human rights, climate change and global migration. For this reason our Editorial Board is looking to solicit Viewpoints on topics that are pivotal to Australian Occupational Therapy, from experts who can stimulate us to think politically, strategically and enable debate on issues crucial to the profession. An example of this approach is the Medical Journal of Australia (MJA) who commission opinion articles called ‘Perspectives’, to ‘discuss challenging and controversial questions’ that are ‘well argued and assertions must be supported by appropriate references’ (www.mja.com.au). In addition, the MJA can source a Perspectives article with an opposing view to another Perspective article within the same journal issue. Authors who have not been commissioned to write a Perspectives article but wish to submit one, can suggest a topic to the Editorial Board for consideration. As part of ongoing quality improvement, the AOTJ Editorial Board members are looking to review the structure of Viewpoints including the length, number of references and format to ensure that Viewpoints are meeting the needs of our readership. We are aiming for Viewpoints to be highly topical, frequently downloaded (and hopefully read), used in preparation of future occupational therapists and heavily cited in other literature. We would welcome input from all stakeholders who are passionate about stimulating debate so as a profession we can determine our own direction following considered and informed robust discussions.