HEPATOLOGY's newest team

Abstract

This issue marks the beginning of the 5-year tenure of a new group of editors of HEPATOLOGY who will assume the responsibility from an extremely productive and successful group of editors led by Dr. Andy Blei. Doctor Blei and his colleagues helped to further develop HEPATOLOGY into the world's premier journal for reporting advances in liver disease. HEPATOLOGY is an important venue for discussions of the basic sciences underlying liver disease as well as the clinical aspects of acute and chronic liver diseases. Furthermore, HEPATOLOGY has become a forum for discussions about policies related to societal issues regarding liver disease and health care policy as it relates to the liver. In addition, HEPATOLOGY serves as an important educational arm of AASLD. The vision of the new editors of HEPATOLOGY is in perfect alignment with that of AASLD's recently published vision and mission statement. The vision of AASLD is to prevent liver disease and the mission is to advance the science and practice of hepatology, thereby promoting liver health and optimal care of patients with liver and biliary tract disease. There are several strategic goals of the organization that HEPATOLOGY is optimally situated to serve. These include the promotion of basic and clinical research on liver and biliary tract disease, education of healthcare professionals, identification of public policy issues, and improving the training of professionals committed to the science and practice of hepatology. It is our intent to continue to build on Dr. Blei's outstanding performance and further ensure that the strategic goals of AASLD are embraced. HEPATOLOGY will continue to be a major source of information for new advances in the field, whether these are basic science or clinical research covering diagnoses, management of liver diseases, or complications. Furthermore, HEPATOLOGY should continue to be a forum for discussions about public policy as it relates to liver diseases, again consistent with the AASLD's strategic plan to be active in public policy and in promoting public health. HEPATOLOGY's reach continues to be global and it is expected that its international scope will continue to increase. HEPATOLOGY continues to attract numerous manuscripts, and it is our hope that the submission rate will continue to increase. We currently receive 1600-1800 articles per year, and the acceptance rate has hovered around 20%. Currently, about one-third of the papers would be considered clinical and two-thirds basic or translational. Our field is characterized, perhaps more than any other, by a robust interplay of basic sciences through translational research into clinical practice. A continued goal of the editors of HEPATOLOGY is to merge these 3 important components of our field into 1 source. We anticipate expanding the number of papers per issue by 15%-20%, in recognition of the increased research activities focused on liver disease and the continued popularity of this journal as a source for publishing these findings. We will strive to provide an excellent balance between clinical and more basic mechanistic information regarding liver disease and anticipate that the extra pages will go toward publishing the increasing number of excellent clinical papers submitted to this journal. HEPATOLOGY will include editorials on pertinent articles. We also have a goal of 2 review articles per month, 1 on a clinical topic and 1 a basic or translational topic. A group of 3 members of our editorial board will be responsible for surveying the hepatology literature outside our journal to keep readers informed via “Hepatology Elsewhere”. Drs. Kris Kowdley, Geoff McCaughan, and Christian Trautwein will each be responsible for a monthly review of papers published elsewhere that our readers may not have otherwise encountered but would be important to bring to our attention along with editorial board commentary. Our group of Associate Editors consists of outstanding investigators and clinicians from around the globe: These are all active investigators, experts in their fields, highly energetic, and committed to the success of HEPATOLOGY. We have already had the opportunity to verify their expertise, dedication, and commitment to the work of HEPATOLOGY. The journal will continue to be published with the support of a very strong central office led by Greg Bologna, assisted by Alan Manton and Kareytis Martinez, using Manuscript Central. Our publisher, John Wiley & Sons, has continued to be highly supportive of the efforts of the editors of HEPATOLOGY. We look forward over the next 5 years to our readership's frequent submissions and also to the expert reviewer comments. Our commitment is to have the review cycle time be as short as possible. Our goal is that all reviews are to be completed within 2 weeks. We hope all these efforts will continue to keep HEPATOLOGY at the cutting edge and help it become an even more vital resource for those with interest in the study of liver disease.