International Wound Journal 2016: a year in review.

Abstract

As the International Wound Journal (IWJ) enters its 13th year, we thought we would review the past year. The IWJ has grown from strength to strength since its inception in 2004. For that, we are truly thankful to our authors, reviewers and readers. Without your hard work and effort, we wouldn't be where we are today. As mentioned earlier in the year in a past editorial 1, the IWJ is now essentially ranked as the number 1 wound care resource, along side Wound Repair and Regeneration. This is something that both the publisher (Wiley) and our editorial team are extremely proud of and moving forward we hope to continue this progress and be ranked even higher in both dermatology and surgery specialist journals as well as being the best wound journal not only in terms of impact factor but also in terms of multidisciplinary readership. The year 2016 has been a record year for submissions with over 500 for the year. As many of our authors are acutely aware, we did have somewhat of a backlog of manuscripts in the production tank resulting in a less than acceptable submission-to-publication timeframe. We have worked hard this year to clear a significant proportion of our backlog with a special edition around the successful World Union of Wound Healing Societies (WUWHS) meeting in Florence. Our editorial team would like to personally congratulate Prof. Marco Romanelli on a highly successful conference and also on his future leadership of the WUWHS as its President. Marco has been part of our review board since the inception of the IWJ and we thank him for his contribution. We have come a long way in just 12 years and are proud of our many achievements. The IWJ has met the initial objective established at the launch of the journal, ‘to become the pre-eminent international, clinical resource for those involved in the management and prevention of wounds’. Mission accomplished with much gratitude to everyone involved in this success. One significant component of our success was the support of our industry strategic partners. This was not only financial support but significantly greater with strategic guidance to establish a presence across the world, ensuring a true international reach and feel. Industry has long been a major influencer in the development of wound healing as a clinical specialty. Helping drive this specialisation is a win–win for both clinicians and industry alike. As the journal became more established it was tempting to move to more traditional publishing models but the value of such a strategic help could not be ignored. As such, our strategic relationship with our industrial partners has continued for the duration of the IWJ and will continue into the future.