Journal of Anatomy January 2020.

Abstract

A Happy New Year to all. As we have done before in the January issue, we take this opportunity to give you a short account on the current state of Journal of Anatomy. We are pleased to report that the Journal is in good health and year on year is gaining in strength. We have again seen a record-breaking number of submissions to the Journal and from these we are able to publish high quality papers from across the areas highlighted in our mast head – Structure, Function, Development and Evolution. As ever, we seek to publish papers that give significant novel insights into normal anatomy. These include many that use experimental studies to elucidate the mechanisms underpinning the anatomy as well as descriptive studies that communicate broader functional and/or evolutionary anatomical significance. It is still our intent to offer an effective and speedy Editorial and review process. Currently, our average time to first decision is 26 days and the time to final decision about 39 days. The growth in the number of submissions and thus in the quality of the papers that we are publishing is further reflected in the increase in our impact factor year on year – At one level these are but numbers, but they underscore an important point which is that, in the current choppy waters that all Journals find themselves navigating, Journal of Anatomy is maintaining its identity and strong presence. Of course, we do not do this alone and we are indebted to you, as readers, authors and reviewers. A list of all referees that have assisted us over the last 12 months are published in this issue. The papers that we publish are not only noteworthy for their science and the insights they offer but also for the images that they contain. Again, we have published many beautiful images over the last year and a snapshot of these is to be found in Fig. 1, which is a composite of our cover images form the last 12 months. We would also like remind our readers and authors that the Journal, in conjunction with the Anatomical Society (http://www.anatsoc.org.uk/funding-and-awards/grants-and-prizes/the-journal-of-anatomy-best-paper-prize), awards prizes for the best paper and a runner-up published in the journal each year. These are awarded by the Editors-in-Chief based on nominations received from the Editorial Board. The Journal of Anatomy Best Paper Prize 2018 was awarded to - 'The development of the cloaca in the human embryo’. (Kruepunga et al., 2018) Journal of Anatomy Runner-Up Best Paper Prize 2018 was awarded to – 'Intraganglionic macrophages: a new population of cells in the enteric ganglia'. (Dóra et al., 2018) This year we published 161 such papers covering the breadth of the Anatomical Sciences. Most of our papers report original research, but we have also published several insightful and useful review articles including the following – ‘The moment arms of the muscles spanning the glenohumeral joint: a systematic review’ by Hik and Ackland (2019) ‘Challenges in creating dissectible anatomical 3D prints for surgical teaching’ by Ratinam et al. (2019) ‘Anatomy transformed’ by Lee et al. (2019) ‘How are the cardiomyocytes aggregated together within the walls of the left ventricular cone?’ by Anderson et al. (2019) ‘Toward safer thanatopraxy cares: formaldehyde-releasers use’ by Varlet et al. (2019) ‘A reappraisal and revision of the numbering of the pharyngeal arches’ by Graham et al. (2019) We are always keen to publish more high-quality Reviews and if you have a suggestion for a topic do submit that to the Editors in Chief who will give it consideration. Finally, we published a special symposium issue in September on Human cortex development, guest edited by Professor Gavin Clowry and Professor Zoltan Molnar. This includes several valuable contributions and the content and importance of this collection is summarised in the Editorial – ‘Human cerebral cortex development’ by Zoltán Molnár Gavin Clowry and Co-Chairs of the Summer Meeting