EDITORIALS |
You say goodbye and I say hello
1School of Clinical Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, 2University Hospital Aintree, Liverpool and 3British Society for Rheumatology, Bride House, London, UK
Correspondence to: R. J. Moots, British Society for Rheumatology, Bride House, 18–20 Bride Lane, London EC4Y 8EE, UK. E-mail: editorial{at}rheumatology.org.uk
The wind of change affects us all: the global financial crisis, inauguration of the new US President and now a fresh editorial team at Rheumatology. After 5 yrs of excellent stewardship under Richard Watts and Serena Cubie, the Journal adopts a Liverpool influence (apologies to the Beatles) with Robert Moots as new editor and Shehnaz Ahmed, managing editor. There are further changes afoot, with the appointment of new international Associate Editors and an expanded US involvement at associate editor and board level. While we bid adieu and thank the old team for their work, which has taken the Journal to new heights, we welcome the new team aboard—looking to our experienced editorial board and associate editors to help guide Rheumatology forward in these exciting and challenging times.
Exciting and challenging, because of the rapidly evolving world of medical journal publishing with the development of online submissions, the open-access model, podcasts, blogs, RSS feeds and citation tracking, to name but a few. Many of these innovations have already become established in Rheumatology, others are already planned, and even more will occur as we meet future challenges. And yet, despite these technological changes, the central basis of scientific publication remains the process of rigorous independent peer review. It is this process that ensures the standards of any journal are established and maintained. Editors depend on reviewers for their ability to objectively and critically assess scientific papers. Their skills in highlighting potential flaws in study design, gaps in data, inappropriate conclusions and their suggestions for improving a manuscript are essential to help ensure that only the best are published. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all the reviewers who have worked over the years to establish and maintain Rheumatology's quality and look forward to this continuing collaboration, for the benefit of all. This year, for the first time, we plan to host a reception for the editorial board members, associate editors and some of our reviewers at the ACR/ARHP Annual Scientific Meeting.
What would a journal be without its readers and authors? We want the relationship with our readers and authors to be real and dynamic. As readers of Rheumatology, you are the best judge of our content and we invite your suggestions, comments and other feedback to help improve the Journal further. We are revising our instructions to authors (soon to be released), to facilitate the submission of articles and help ensure that manuscripts are in the best shape for serious consideration for publication. We also plan to expand the focus of Rheumatology: current sections on basic and clinical research will, in time, expand to include translational research and global health. Indeed, to help enthuse and encourage young researchers, especially from developing countries, to present their work at international conferences, we will offer three travel grants to the value of 
2000 each this year. Maintaining the highest ethics in publishing remains central to our Journal, as we strive to ensure full transparency, minimizing potential conflicts of interest at all levels, from the Editorial team through to individual authors and reviewers. From 2009 onwards, Rheumatology will require clinical trials to submit their clinical trial registration number [1].
Over recent years, Rheumatology has achieved many important milestones: migration to an online submission system, optional open-access publications and rapid responses, with averages including a rapid 25 days from receipt of manuscript to first decision and only 6 weeks from final acceptance to online publication. We have also seen Rheumatology take its place as one of the top three from more than 20 international rheumatology-related journals. However, we cannot rest on our laurels and, as Robert Frost said, ‘... The woods are lovely, dark and deep, but I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep ...’ In Liverpool, we prefer to remember, in the words of Lennon and McCartney, that ‘we’ll get by with a little help from our friends ... !’
We would like to wish everyone a very Happy New Year! The wheels of motion have been set and we have much work to do. Watch this space.
Disclosure statement: The authors have declared no conflicts of interest.
Reference
- Watts R, Cubie S. Clinical trial registration. Rheumatology (2008) 47:1595–96.
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