A new format for the journal and a farewell.

Abstract

This month, the introduction will not be dedicated to summarizing the articles of this issue but, rather, to two quite different themes such as the new format of our journal and the departure of an outstanding cardiologist and friend of HFA, Henry Krum. Regarding the format of our articles, we are happy to announce that we are going to have a colour format for our articles and a slight difference in their order, starting with this issue. Colours will be used for the title of the articles as well as the titles of the paragraphs, tables and figure legends. Among the different colour combinations which were possible, we have chosen the same format of the articles issued in our mother journal, the European Heart Journal (EHJ). In addition, again similarly to the EHJ, the editorial comments to full length articles are now moved directly after the article to which they refer, rather than being the first articles of each issue. On the other hand, we will keep uninvited editorials, expressing the point of view of the authors regarding important aspects of heart failure, at the beginning of the journal. These editorials are now called viewpoints, remarking their main characteristics. These format changes of the European Journal of Heart Failure show our tight relationships with the ESC journals' family. This family now includes multiple journals covering virtually all areas of cardiology and we also have a sister journal devoted to heart failure, the open access ESC Heart failure. I believe that these tight relations benefit all the journals: the articles rejected by the EHJ as well as their reviews, if the Reviewers agree, can be directly transferred from the EHJ to any journal belonging to the ESC journals' family, including the European Journal of Heart Failure as well as from it to ESC Heart Failure. This implies that much time is saved by the Authors, who avoid all the complications and delays of a submission process, as well as by the Reviewers who can have their reviews transferred from one journal to the other. Of course, this does not imply that the criteria adopted for acceptance or rejection of an article are the same as in the EHJ, since other criteria, such as the different ranking of our journal and its subspecialty characteristics, also play a major role. We maintain that marking the family characteristics of the ESC journals is beneficial for our mother journal, EHJ, which has something to offer to the articles which are rejected, as well as to ourselves who are offered high level publications for submission. In addition, last but not least, the colours' combination of the EHJ is also very pleasant. We hope that these changes will further improve the quality of our submitted publications and the satisfaction of our readers. Words cannot express the heartache caused by the sad departure, on November 28, 2015, of Henry Krum, from the University of Melbourne, an outstanding cardiologist and a great human being. Henry has been a board member of the European Journal of Heart Failure for many years and has always contributed widely to its life and growth by reviewing manuscripts, intervening at the editorial board meetings and submitting insightful articles. His contribution, both from a scientific and a personal point of view, will be outlined in an obituary edited by Frank Ruschitzka in the next issue. I keep recalling him and the time we spent together sharing similar scientific results and experiences. Henry's contribution to science will remain but, even more, the memory of his smile and his kindness will last forever.