In 1961, Helen J. Hislop took over as editor of Physical Therapy Review. With that came a reexamination of the publication’s name. From time to time someone would suggest that a new name was needed, one that would include the designation “journal” and the name of the association in its formal title, following the example of the Journal of the American Medical Association. The Executive Committee decided to poll the members, and with the majority’s approval, the change to the new name, Journal of the American Physical Therapy Association, was formally made in January 1962.
Hislop also saw in her position of editor an opportunity to move the profession to a level that probably had never been fully visualized before. Although the Journal was entrusted to her with a new name, it was changed again in January 1964 to Physical Therapy, with a subtitle of Journal of the American Physical Therapy Association. That change was only the first of many. Hislop introduced a new cover design, a new typeface, and several new editorial features including “Notes from Capitol Hill,” which covered the fast-changing beat of legislative issues in Washington, D.C. The journal’s length also grew considerably, from 816 pages annually when she began in 1961 to 1,480 annually when she completed her tenure as editor in 1968, and as a reflection of the new importance of the publication, the number of advertisers — and coincident advertising revenue — grew exponentially.