Welcome to the last edition of RACP Quarterly in this form. As with many activities during these past few years, it’s time for change.

For many years, the RACP published a magazine in hard copy, containing College news and distributed to all members. It also printed physical copies of its two journals, the Internal Medicine Journal and the Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health, and mailed those to Fellows and Advanced Trainees, both in our region and internationally.

As the issue of climate change and its effect on health becomes a key consideration for us as a College, it became apparent that continued hard copy printing and distribution of publications was inconsistent with our public position on carbon emissions and global warming.

The sizable reduction in carbon emissions and the chance to redeploy savings elsewhere to benefit members made a compelling case to stay entirely online. We announced this to you, and you were supportive.

As we’ve examined readership data for the Quarterly online and watched increasing engagement on platforms such as the RACP Online Community (ROC) and our other online communications platforms, we can see that online accessible forms of communications are preferred by our members.

You are seeking a more immediate and real-time interaction with our College. You’re wanting dialogue with us and asking for your news and information more quickly. In today’s information environment, a quarterly publication schedule, even on a digital platform, is increasingly a relic of an era when print was the primary medium of communicating.

For those reasons we are transitioning away from this quarterly digital format to publishing member stories, profiles, and content as they happen across our other digital platforms. This will not mean a reduction in the content we publish for you.

Instead, rather than waiting for College news four times a year, it will be provided to you on our real-time digital platforms, as it is ready and available.

Perhaps this also provides more opportunities to share your stories and news, whether that be your professional journey or achievements, important scientific discoveries or evidence for innovative models of care that reduce health inequities, or reflections on the important issues that we need to address as a profession. Our College and our reputation is built on your dedication, commitment, and excellence as physicians and paediatricians.

Kind regards, Jacqueline Small President, RACP