Research Letters: A New Editorial Format for the Rapid Disclosure of Innovative Data and Concepts, Didactic Demonstrations, and Scientific Discussions

Abstract

D uring the last 10 years, medical and dental research fields have developed, and the number of researchers and publishing teams has exploded. This recent evolution (strongly supported by the new flexible electronic formats) has led to the multiplication of journals and the massive publication of data from a larger range of research teams. The good aspect of this situation is that it is now easier to publish results and express contradictory opinions. The inconvenience is that it is more difficult for the clinician readers to sort and interpret easily this increased volume of published information. To face the proliferation of submissions and data, many journals have decided to increase their volume of published articles per year. Unfortunately, this often has lead to a succession of articles without real links between them. If this model has a sense in basic sciences (where most researchers only use electronic versions of journals to gather information), it is not adapted to a journal for a community of clinicians such as the Journal of Oral Implantology (JOI). JOI is also facing an increasing volume of submissions each year, and has gradually increased the number of published papers per year. However, it seems mandatory to avoid the trap of the exponential publication of data that may not be immediately relevant to the clinician. Therefore, JOI needs to create a pathway of editorial development to keep our clarity and relevance for our clinician readership. JOI is devoted to the publication of research or didactic works in clinical and basic sciences. To address the increasing number of submitted clinical articles and to remain opened to the ideas and materials from nonacademic private practitioners, we recently developed the concept of clinical case letters. However, a significant part of the growth of submis1 Clarion Research Group, Clarion, Penn. Department of Restorative Dentistry, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY. 2 LoB5 unit, Research Center for Biomineralization Disorders, School of Dentistry, Chonnam National University, Gwangju, South Korea. Department of Stomatology, Oral Surgery, and Dental and MaxilloFacial Radiology, School of Dental Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland. * C o r r e s p o n d i n g a u t h o r , e m a i l : j o i . e d i t o r @ rutkowskidmdphd.com DOI: 10.1563/AAID-JOI-D-12-Editorial.3802