The Journal of Hepatology: An international journal in a new era

Abstract

Dear colleagues, dear friends, The Journal of Hepatology, the journal of the European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL), is entering a new era. Twenty-six years after its creation, the Impact factor (IF) has reached the level of 9.34. This achievement ranksour journal among the top four journals in the field of hepato-gastroenterology and the second in the field of hepatology; moreover, the gap between the top three journals and the Journal of Hepatology has been dramatically reduced. This is undoubtedly the result of the work done by previous editorial teams, and particular credit is to be given to the team of Massimo Colombo in Milano and our team. I also wish to express my thanks to the huge and high quality work done by my co-editors Peter Galle and Chris Day, and the whole team of associate editors and special section editors. The author thanks Sonia Guimil, former editorial manager, and Adam Swetloff who took actively part in the development of the Journal when I started my mandate, and set up the new editorial office in Geneva. I also thank the new editorial office, led by Simona Negrini, editorial manager, with Joel Walicki, assistant editor, and Laurence Zulianello, graphic designer, for the superb work done. With their help we will further improve the management of the submitted manuscripts and the development of the Journal. All improvements have been done with the continuous support of the EASL Governing Board and the successive Secretaries-General, Jean-Michel Pawlotsky, Heiner Wedemeyer, and Mark Thursz. When, 2 years ago, we took over the editorship of the Journal, we decided to substantially modify its layout with a new cover, and we conceived a new format with redesigned figures and tables. We also created new sections, such as Clinical Applications of Basic Science, Snapshot in Hepatology; a Focus section, delivered by two top international experts, Daniel Shouval and Scott Friedman; a section on International Hepatology, a Controversy section, and a special section devoted to liver transplantation named Frontiers in Liver Transplantation. With these sections, we want to offer our readers a full access to the developments of science outside our own field, to highlight their potential applications in hepatology, and to permanently integrate liver transplantation in the field of hepatology of the 21th century.