LETTER FROM THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Abstract

Once again, I am pleased to wish all our authors and readers a happy, productive and peaceful New Year on behalf of the CMI Editorial Team and the Society. The forthcoming year will be a year of transition for CMI, as the current Editorial Team completes its 5-year term of office with the December 2008 issue. It is my pleasure to announce that the new Editor-in-Chief will be Professor Didier Raoult (Marseille, France). Professor Raoult and his team will start to handle the assessment of new submissions with effect from April 2008, and will be responsible for the content of the January 2009 issue onwards. We hope that the transition between the two editorial teams will be as smooth as possible, but we ask authors for their understanding if some minor delays occur during the transition process. There will be some changes in the editorial process, and probably in the appearance and content of the journal, for 2009. However, one change that is being introduced in the immediate short-term concerns a requirement for greater transparency regarding potential conflicts of interest among authors of published manuscripts. As before, all results presented previously at a scientific meeting or in another public context must be acknowledged, giving the context, location and date of presentation. In addition, sources of funding, as well as a general statement disclosing, or excluding, any degree of commercial interest or potential dual interest of any nature, must be included. Specifically, CMI will now require acknowledgment of funding or support from, employment by, or possession of shares in an enterprise that may in any way profit from or be affected by the results of the study or the conclusions of the article, as well as details of any other relationships or associations, financial or of another nature, that may constitute a conflict of interest. Such relationships might include direct or indirect support for a study (either financial or in terms of consumables), receipt of a travel grant, membership of a panel of speakers, invitation to attend a conference, etc. As a minimum, all such relationships in at least the 3-year period immediately preceding submission of a manuscript must be declared. If no potential conflicting interest exists, a statement to that effect should be included for publication. If no statement is provided, the following text will be included in the Acknowledgements section during the editorial process: No information has been provided by the authors concerning the existence or absence of conflicting or dual interests. We believe that this approach will bring CMI into line with other reputable scientific journals. Our purpose is not to hinder collaboration or relationships with commercial organisations, but simply to provide the maximum possible transparency to the reader concerning the extent and possible ramifications of such links. Finally, as I come towards the end of my term as Editor-in-Chief, I would like to thank the entire Editorial Team for their support and hard work in producing CMI during the past 5 years. The numbers of submissions, as well as the CMI impact factor, have almost tripled during this period, but the time from acceptance to publication has halved. We have also successfully introduced the online submission and manuscript handling system, and authors are seeing the benefits of ‘online early’, in which accepted manuscripts are made available to the scientific community on the internet within a few days of the proofs being approved for publication. While success creates some difficulties of its own, I hope that you will feel that CMI has developed in a positive manner during the past 5 years. It has been a personal honour to play a role in this development process, and I have greatly enjoyed meeting and corresponding with many of our authors and readers. Thank you for your support.