Greetings from the new Editor-in-Chief of Digestive Endoscopy.

Abstract

It is my great honor to be designated as a new Editor-in-Chief (EIC) of Digestive Endoscopy (DEN), an official journal of Japan Gastroenterological Endoscopy Society (JGES). I would also like to express my sincere gratitude to Prof. Choitsu Sakamoto, the former EIC of the journal, for his outstanding talent and great effort dedicated to editing DEN during a period 2012–2017. I believe that it is Prof. Sakamoto, who has established the high priority status of DEN. During the past years, I have been contributing to DEN as an associate editor or as a deputy EIC. The experience as a member of editorial board of DEN provided me a great chance in the understanding of the editing process of a medical journal, and also of “progress and advance” of a journal. Thanks to the efforts by ex-EICs, Emeritus Professors Tatsuo Yamakawa (1998–2005) and Hiromitsu Saisho (2006–2011), DEN was registered as an accepted journal in “Pub-Med” in 2010 with an IF value of 0.33. Surprisingly and honorably, the journal has become widely accepted as an international journal in the field of gastrointestinal endoscopy with an increase in an IF value of 2.715 and total cites of 1782 in 2015. Such a success of DEN as a medical journal owes greatly to the systematic and programmed strategy by the editorial team of the journal including Prof. Sakamoto and Prof. Hisao Tajiri, the President of JSGE, and also to the contributors and the readers of the journal. The new editorial team of DEN proudly announces that the journal will continue the effort for the next “jump-up” period. Since the initial publication in 1989, DEN has a 30-year history as an international journal for gastrointestinal endoscopy. As a consequence, DEN now has a position of an accepted journal worldwide. With this regard, DEN has to move on not only as an official journal of JGES but also as that of the Asian Pacific Society for Digestive Endoscopy (APSDE) and as a journal affiliated with World Endoscopy Organization (WOE) in order to be a leading endoscopy journal in Asian and Pan-Pacific area. Since the instrumentation of endoscopy has been continuing to progress day by day, and, actually, the Asian-Pacific area is a region, where there is a great chance in the industry-academia collaboration in endoscopy, DEN believes that the journal can provide most advanced and promising data for clinical endoscopy, especially relating to advanced diagnostic endoscopy and endoscopic interventions. Also, DEN has recently been challenging and striving hard to publish results of sophisticated clinical trials for gastrointestinal and hepato-biliary endoscopies. The continuing publications of the results of excellent trials would be a treasure for endoscopists worldwide. Furthermore, Video DEN, which is presumably a tool to distribute educational insights and tips for practical endoscopic procedures, will be coming soon. DEN is confident that such contents of the journal inevitably stimulate endoscopists, physicians, surgeons and medical staffs all over the world. Nowadays, responsible conduct of research including research ethics and integrity is required for clinical and epidemiological researches. The conduct is also required for articles published in medical journals. While CONSORT requirement is well known as the one necessary for prospective clinical trials, other statements including STROBE (STrengthening the Reporting of OBservationsal Studies in Epidemiology) and RECORD (REporting of studies Conducted using Observational Routinely-collected Data) may become mandatory for articles published in DEN in the near future. Also, there will be a need for the editorial team of DEN itself to consider WAME (World Association of Medical Editors) as responsible conduct for medical journals. In addition to shortening in time and appropriate assessment for peer-review, DEN will introduce those statements, which inevitably contribute to the improvement in the total quality of the journal. With the increases in IF and other indices, the number of submissions to DEN has been increasing, with more than 700 submissions per year from all over the world. In accordance with the increase in the number, the quality of submitted manuscripts has been improving conspicuously. However, there may still be a room for us to reconstruct the journal with respect to the editorial policy, the content and the goal. I, as the EIC, sincerely ask all the contributors and the readers in the world to participate in the actively of the journal. Such contributions will surely result in advance of science and patients’ welfare. July 1, 2017