Notes From the Incoming Editor

Abstract

In 3 previous installments of “Notes from the Incoming Editor,” I introduced a range of new initiatives to be featured in Circulation starting June 29.1–3 I refer interested readers to those short articles in which I introduced several new content categories, including Frame of Reference and State of the Art. We have presented our model of globally distributed editorial leadership, which is central to our goal of leveraging the intellectual and creative energy of thought leaders worldwide and optimally engaging professionals globally. Last month, we introduced the Circulation “doodle,” an initiative to interject a bit of fun into the publishing process and to smoke out the artists in our midst. The 6 Circulation subspecialty journals and the Journal of theAmericanHeartAssociation are approaching 10 years in existence. Each is doing very well, and each is now fully independent, attracting a robust array of high-quality direct submissions (as opposed to referrals from Circulation ). In light of this, we are currentlypositioned to be even more responsive to our readers by providing early, internal editorial decisions on new submissions that are unlikely to have sufficient priority for Circulation or for one of the subspecialty journals. Obviously, no one enjoys a rejection letter, but it is better to receive one at 3 days than after several weeks. We will reject without review a larger fraction of submissions as a service to our authors, demonstrating respect for their valuable time; if a paper is deemed not to be a suitable fit for Circulation , the authors will learn this early on and can proceed to another journal. Perhaps even more, this initiative is a service to our reviewers, accomplished investigators who toil behind the scenes reviewing papers to support science and the journal. We will move toward a model in whichwe ultimately send …