Thirty-four years ago, the initial issue of the Journal of Military and Veterans’ Health (JMVH) (then Australian Military Medicine (AMM)) was published in February 1992. SQNLDR James Ross was the inaugural President and the first article published, fittingly on “Should Defence Force Personnel receive Influenza Vaccine?”, also came from James Ross. By 1993, CMDR Russ Schedlich was the inaugural Editor, and the Journal rapidly progressed to publishing three issues per year. When I took over the Editorial role from CMDR Schedlich in December 1999 (Volume 8, Issue 3), I outlined a vision for the still relatively new Journal.
“What is my vision? My vision is to publish the journal at least 4 times a year, to increase the size of the journal and to tap into that deep wellspring of military medicine knowledge in our community. I believe that this journal should and can become one of the premiere military medicine journals in our field.”1
So how have we done? In 1999, AMM was publishing three issues a year and published 12 papers. By 2025, JMVH had moved to 4 issues per year, a dedicated editing system (ScholarOne), and 26 peer-reviewed papers per year. These papers are now all available online, including back to our first issues. Increasing numbers of them are also available by podcast – https://jmvh.org/podcasts/. The period wasn’t without its challenges – in 1999, the Australian Defence Force (ADF) established the Journal of the ADF Health Service (ADF Health), which ran in competition with JMVH until 2011. The good outcome is that AMMA has managed to preserve all the copies of ADF Health for people’s open access – 1999 to 2007 are already online (https://jmvh.org/adf-health-journal-1999/#), with 2008-2011 expected to follow shortly. As JMVH updates its website, searching for theses articles will also become easier.
Our third issue of 2026 contains 8 articles on diverse topics spanning tropical medicine, transition out of the military, mental health, and fitness for service. We continue to attract an increasing number and range of articles, including from overseas, as demonstrated by several of the articles in this issue. Other military and veterans’ health articles, however, are always very welcome, and we would encourage all our readers to consider writing on their areas of military or veterans’ health interest. We would particularly welcome papers being developed in preparation for the Sydney 2026 conference, but welcome any articles across the broader spectrum of military health.
Dr Andy Robertson, CSC, PSM
Commodore, RAN
Editor-in-Chief
