2024 has been a bumper year for the First Aid Journal.  We’ve had more submissions, seen our readership rise, and enjoyed increased engagement through Linked In, Facebook, and X.  Read on to find out what we’ve been up to.

As always, we’ve published a diverse set of articles, each in their way exploring ways to make first aid more effective: whether that’s through reaching more people with learning opportunities using Do-it-yourself manikins; making it easier to hold an infant when they’re choking; or providing information for the public on neonatal life support for those giving birth in fragile contexts where there is no healthcare provision.

This theme of fragile contexts is continued with an extraordinary View from the Field account of the training and organizing first aid responders in the war-torn occupied Palestinian Territories. We’re delighted to continue our partnership with Cochrane First Aid looking at the effectiveness of treatment for jellyfish stings, together with a response from Brazil. We were thrilled to accept and publish our first-ever letter from a high school student who had led a study to explore how children could effectively put pressure on a bleed.  All these papers demonstrate the lay responder's importance and ability to save lives and play an increasingly crucial role in any country's healthcare system.

The journal also saw some significant developments:

We welcomed a new team of volunteers to support our editorial work, including new Editorial Board members, Assistant Editors, and new translators for our abstracts. We are delighted to welcome Joanna Muise as our new Chair of the Editorial Board.  Jo has shown leadership in promoting specific topics, supporting our new volunteers, and posting on social media to engage with more readers. We are deeply grateful to all our volunteers for their help, inspiration, and dedication to keeping the First Aid Journal free to all, diverse and international.

We launched a special issue on Mental Health and Psychological First Aid and a special series on Aquatics.  Both these will continue through 2025, so please consider submitting manuscripts to either of these calls.

Last but not least, we initiated a new scheme to support Emerging Scholars.  We know how hard it can be to get your work published, and this initiative is designed to help first-aid educators and academics in the earlier stages of their careers by providing extra feedback and guidance on concepts for papers and early versions of manuscripts. We also welcome new peer reviewers to build their experience and insight for future publishing. Our continued partnership with the University of Benghazi has helped us to shape this work.

Thank you for all your support in sharing our journal with colleagues and students.  We wish you a safe and peaceful 2025 and look forward to hearing about your first-aid work wherever you are.