2014
will bring surprises and improvements
December 2014 Editorial
Once again we have reached the end of a
very successful year in the history of the International Journal of Stroke. Now
at the end of our eighth year, we are in the fortunate position of having an
impact factor on the rise, attributed to the quality of manuscripts, which you
are submitting, and the readability of the journal. In this vein the structure
continues to evolve.
Many of you will recall that we launched
the journal with a content focused solely on review, but have gradually evolved
the format to include a modest number of high quality research articles, and an
annual bumper research edition.
This change in structure has also been in
response to the extraordinary number of submissions that you have made,
emphasizing the appetite and need for more top quality science to be published,
and new vehicles for publication. The whole publishing industry is undergoing
the most rapid change, perhaps since the invention of the printing press. What
the journal landscape will look like even within five years is hard to predict,
what we do know is that we must evolve rapidly!
The second structural alteration has been
to expand our Editorial Board roles. We have introduced new section editors,
who are leaders in their field, I warmly welcome: Genetics: Martin
Dichgans - Germany, Hugh Markus - UK; Basic Science: Malcolm McLeod – UK, David Howells - Australia; Imaging: Mark Parsons –
Australia;
Acute therapy: Andrew
Demchuk – Canada, Peter Sandercock – UK; Rehabilitation:
Marion Walker – UK, Julie Bernhardt – Australia;
Cognition disorder: Amy
Brodtmann – Australia, and Sarah Pendlebury – UK.
I am certain they will all make a wonderful
contribution to the matrix of the journal.
As well as working to engage science
leaders in their field, we are also building on the wealth of experience in the
field of stroke from our senior colleagues who will contribute as consulting editors; it is a pleasure to
welcome: Stephen Davis – Australia; Veronika
Skvortsova – Russia; Bo Norrving – Sweden; Ulrich Dirnagl –Germany; Graeme Hankey – Australia;
Conrado Estol – Argentina.
We would like to thank Michael Hennerici for agreeing to continue to support us in this role after
assisting us to pioneer the journal.
You’ll be pleased to know that
the evolutionary process continues, and in 2014 there
will be a number of surprises and improvements for our expanding and dedicated
readership. See you next year!
Geoffrey A. Donnan
