JID: Your Smorgasbord

Abstract

The JID is a stimulating and mouth-watering delight. Both its print and electronic versions add value to original articles by integrating and evaluating information. Regulars, and the grazers who come occasionally to sample the journal's fare, are well nourished after a visit. To make our journal more appetizing we have instituted and are developing new features which are the subject of this editorial. Each is important or useful in its own right and together they strengthen the desire of the reader to devour the journal. The Table of Contents now has a list of categorical topics, and each month's articles follow this order so that those with time for only a nibble can find their intended favorite intellectual sustenance with alacrity. The tasting menu is broad and ranges from appendages to wound healing although each month a particular item(s) may be out of season. Commentaries are editorials by experts in a scientific area who are invited to comment and enlarge on the implications of a particular article in an issue. They are referenced and should help focus those outside a discipline or subdiscipline on the more general implications of an original article. We aim to highlight one or more entrees each month in this feature and are appreciative of the authors who write them on very short notice. Clinical Snippets are very brief, hors d’oeuvres-sized summaries of an article. They are to entice the reader to explore an article. Their spicy titles further encourage the reader to take her or his first bite. Electronic versions of the journal come in two different flavors. JID online contains pdf or html files for each article. These files may be downloaded, printed and stored. Emailed Tables of Contents alerts are available; to subscribe go to http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/links/toc/jid. To be implemented in the first quarter of 2003 is ‘Online Early’. With this service articles are available online after author corrections have been made. Each article, containing full text and figures but without pagination, will appear 4 to 8 weeks before the complete issue is online. Instructions for citing these articles will be provided. Electronic notification of new postings according to subject, author, etc. will be available. Instructions will be available for signing up for this service on the Blackwell-Synergy website. Publishing Progress in Dermatology reviews is a project we've cooked up with the Dermatology Foundation. These full length reviews are a meal in themselves, satiating our readers' hunger for a deep knowledge of a wide range of research topics. Priority Publications are manuscripts that are important, complete, and well-prepared, allowing for efficient review and publication. They are our contribution to high-quality fast intellectual food for our readers. This new year starts with this feast from the JID and we wish all our readers. Bon appetite!