Thousands of rheumatologists and health professionals are travelling to Atlanta this month for the 2010 ACR/ARHP Annual Scientific Meeting. In addition to the discoveries and rheumatology updates that will be presented at the meeting, attendees can check out the newly relaunched website for The Rheumatologist, www.The-Rheumatologist.org, which will debut in Atlanta.
As the premiere gathering of rheumatology health professionals in the U.S., the annual meeting is the ideal platform to introduce the new site. Along with a fresh, streamlined visual design, the site will contain updated technological and content-related features, including online polls, audiocasts, and improved printing and sharing capabilities, that the ACR and The Rheumatologist’s editors hope will be useful to readers.
Newly updated website capabilities on www.The-Rheumatologist.org will allow readers to not only access and search archived articles from 2006 to the present in full-text HTML format, but also browse by key word. The conversion to HTML, along with website features such as a “Print page” pop-up and an “Email this page” option, will facilitate the printing and sending of articles. Links to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and many other social media platforms will allow for easier content sharing. The Rheumatologist readers can now print information for their own reference, distribute material to their office staff, send articles to their colleagues, and even spread content within their social networks.
But, the technological advantages are not the only reasons to visit the relaunched site. Exclusive Web content and supplemental material to print articles will provide increased amounts of rheumatology news and information. In addition to an online version of each monthly print edition, the website will offer supplemental material including interviews with the experts, charts, graphs, and other visual aides, which will build upon and enhance content presented in print.
Hard copies are interesting and useful, but especially in the world of science, getting ready access to emerging material in sufficient breadth and depth is just so important.
—David S. Pisetsky, MD, PhD
Online-only content, including original, full-text articles, audiocasts, and online polls, will also be posted twice monthly, on the 1st and 15th of each month. David S. Pisetsky, MD, PhD, physician editor of The Rheumatologist, believes the exclusive online content combined with its easy and rapid access will allow for increased responsiveness to findings and discovery in rheumatology—something, he says, that will prove invaluable to his peers. “Hard copies are interesting and useful,” he maintains, “but especially in the world of science, getting ready access to emerging material in sufficient breadth and depth is just so important.”
Ultimately, the relaunch of www.The-Rheumatologist.org seeks to deliver more news in a more efficient, effective, and innovative manner, all while maintaining the publication’s quality and mission. Dawn Antoline, editor of The Rheumatologist, says that an online presence is an essential component of any publication: it creates a more holistic approach to conveying the most up-to-date information, an approach Antoline says the readers have been craving. “I have received half a dozen calls in the past few weeks from readers asking about online articles,” she says. “Readers will appreciate the new features, especially the HTML and printer-friendly formats. I’m excited for the online-only content, which will allow The Rheumatologist to deliver more news in a more timely manner.”
The month of November, then, will prove to be a busy and newsworthy time for rheumatology professionals. As thousands of ACR and ARHP members return from Atlanta and their annual meeting, the field of rheumatology will inevitably buzzing with newfound insights, knowledge, and findings. The relaunched www.The-Rheumatologist.org, using all of its new technological and content-related features, will provide an excellent source for news about those insights and other developments in the field of rheumatology.
Christina Picciano is a writer based in New Jersey.
