Abstract
It is with great pleasure, and some trepidation, that I look forward to taking over as the next Editor-in-Chief from Jim Klaunig in January 2008. Jim has continued a long line of excellent editors for the journal, and I hope to be able to carry on the tradition and continue to develop the journal to suit the needs of both the members of the Society of Toxicologic Pathology and the British Society of Toxicological Pathologists and its ever-expanding readership outside of the two societies. The tenure of Jim’s stewardship has seen the impact factor exceed 2.0 for the first time since 2001 when the ILSI/HESI Alternatives to Carcinogenicity Testing meeting was published in Toxicologic Pathology. I would hope to continue the upward trend, and while appreciating that impact factors are not the sole consideration of the journal, they certainly reflect an increasing appeal of the journal to the world at large.
I look forward to the continued support of Stephanie Dickinson and Beth Mahler as Managing Editor and Illustrations Editor, respectively, and will be approaching the new group of Associate Editors for their ideas and input into the future direction of the journal. As always the Editorial Board will be key to the success of the journal, and we will be exploring ways of involving them to a greater extent than at the single Editorial Board meeting held during the annual meeting. Exciting times lie ahead for the editorial staff and myself with our new publishers, Sage, providing a new ingredient to the mix. Initial contact with the Sage group has been extremely encouraging, and we all look forward to a constructive future for our collaboration.
The increasing international presence of the journal is most encouraging and is reflected in the increasing submission rates from Japan and the far-eastern countries, and we will be strengthening our Editorial Board to reflect this trend. Finally, the success of the journal will depend heavily on the continued supply of high-quality submissions, and I have great confidence that the STP and BSTP membership will continue to see the journal as the first port of call for their manuscripts.