JAVMA launches first mobile application

Whether between farm calls, surgeries, or classes, or during a rare lunch break, readers of JAVMA now have a better way to access the Journal digitally.

Designed with AVMA and Student AVMA members in mind, the recently released JAVMA mobile app renders the Journal more suitable for reading on Apple and Android tablets and smartphones. The app will be officially launched during AVMA Convention 2017, July 21-25, and, aside from the AVMA convention app, which is specific to the yearly convention, is the first AVMA app meant to be used by nearly the entire AVMA membership.

Dr. Janet Donlin, AVMA executive vice president and CEO, said the new app is the latest innovation for the Journal, which continues to adapt to member needs.

"JAVMA traces its history back to a time before lightbulbs and ballpoint pens, and it continues to be one of the most respected veterinary medical journals in the world because it has constantly evolved to meet and anticipate the needs of the profession. Whether it be increasing the frequency of publication, publishing in color, providing new features, or moving online, JAVMA has always embraced change to serve the needs of its subscribers," Dr. Donlin said.

"Increasingly, we've heard from our members that, in this current age of smartphones and tablets, a mobile version of JAVMA was necessary to ensure they had access to the latest developments and research in veterinary medicine. We believe this mobile version of JAVMA will help our members reach us wherever they are and ensure the Journal's content is as valuable and useful as ever."

App features

Available to individual subscribers only, the JAVMA app can be downloaded for free through the Google Play and Apple App stores. Users will then enter their AVMA user ID and password—the same ID and password they use to sign in to the AVMA website—to log in and access the full content of issues. Institutional subscriptions (libraries and colleges, for example) will not have access to the JAVMA app at this time.

The one question we have consistently gotten over the past few years, whether through our readership surveys, focus groups, or just members contacting us, is 'When will I be able to read JAVMA on my tablet?' In the past, the answer has always been 'We're working on it' or 'It's coming.' Today, the answer is finally 'Now.'

Dr. Kurt J. Matushek, AVMA editor-in-chief and director of the Publications Division

Each new issue will be posted a few days ahead of the print version. Once downloaded, issues can be read offline.

The app offers two reading formats. One is a fixed-layout—or replica—version that looks similar to a PDF; the other is a responsive version that reflows text and images to fit the screen and is optimized to be viewed on small devices. The reading environment usually defaults to the responsive version if a smartphone or other small-screen device is being used, or to the fixed-layout version if a tablet, desktop, or laptop is being used. The user can easily switch between the responsive and fixed-layout versions.

The app also has the following features:

• Pinch-to-zoom functionality in the replica version to view text and images in greater detail. In the responsive version, text size can be increased and pictures tapped to enlarge them.
• Full-text search and archival search capabilities.
• Syncing of notes and bookmarks across devices.
• Sharing of articles via/to email or social media.
• Navigation by table of contents and page carousel.
• Browsing of bookmarked pages and page history via carousel.

Readers can bookmark favorite pages, add notes, and also make freehand annotations on pages. And, because those bookmarks and notes are associated with the user's account, if the user is logged in on a different device, the bookmarks and notes synchronize across. A cross-edition search capability will be available later this year.

Eventually, the Journal hopes to add multimedia such as video, audio, animations, and slideshows to the app.

Migration to mobile

The print edition represents the version of record for JAVMA and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future, said Dr. Kurt J. Matushek, AVMA editor-in-chief and director of the Publications Division. Nevertheless, members are increasingly demanding expanded options for accessing journal content, particularly electronically. Currently, the JAVMA News is available through the AVMA website (www.avma.org/journals), where stories are posted about two weeks ahead of print. News stories are posted open access, meaning that anyone with web access can read them.

In addition, the entire editorial content of JAVMA is available through the AVMA journals website (http://avmajournals.avma.org), where each issue is posted approximately 10 days ahead of print.

Nonsubscribers have access to the table of contents for each issue of JAVMA and the American Journal of Veterinary Research and the abstracts of individual articles. For access to the full content of articles, users must either subscribe to that journal or pay an access fee.

Although these electronic versions of the journals have been available for more than a decade and enjoy good usage, it was time to do something more, Dr. Matushek said.

"The one question we have consistently gotten over the past few years, whether through our readership surveys, focus groups, or just members contacting us, is 'When will I be able to read JAVMA on my tablet?' In the past, the answer has always been 'We're working on it' or 'It's coming.' Today, the answer is finally 'Now,'" he said.

According to JAVMA readership surveys, the percentage of subscribers interested in accessing JAVMA through a tablet or smartphone increased from 25 percent in 2012 to 35 percent in 2016, and the percentage not interested decreased from 62 percent to 47 percent. What's more, for the 2016 survey, 42 percent of subscribers between 40 and 49 years old and 49 percent of subscribers younger than 40 were interested in accessing JAVMA through a tablet or smartphone.

At the same time, online readership of JAVMA News has shifted away from desktop devices. From June 2016 to June 2017, out of almost 817,000 sessions, nearly half involved readers who used a mobile device—40 percent mobile phones and 8 percent tablets—to read stories, according to Google Analytics. Comparatively, five years ago the mean percentage of users accessing stories from smartphones was 7 percent and from tablets, 4 percent.

Visit www.avma.org/JAVMAapp for more about the JAVMA mobile app.