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(Chest. 2005;128:1-3.)
© 2005 American College of Chest Physicians

The Editorial Stewardship of CHEST Changes Hands

Richard S. Irwin, MD, FCCP, Editor in Chief

Northbrook, IL

Correspondence to: Richard S. Irwin, MD, FCCP, Editor in Chief, CHEST, 3300 Dundee Rd, Northbrook, IL 60062-2348; e-mail: rirwin{at}chestnet.org.

Stewardship: the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one’s care1

After 12 extremely productive and successful years, A. Jay Block, MD, Master FCCP, retired, as planned, as the sixth Editor in Chief of CHEST on June 30, 2005. Beginning with this issue, it is my honor and privilege to become the seventh Editor in Chief of CHEST. This change in editorial stewardship gives me the opportunity to selectively review the history of CHEST, reflect on the highlights of Dr. Block’s tenure as Editor in Chief, and share what I will work to accomplish in the next 5 years.

Shortly after the creation of The Federation of American Sanitoria in 1935 (soon to become the American College of Chest Physicians [ACCP] in 1937), the leadership and members of the new medical society felt the need to establish their own medical journal to inform and educate its members primarily about tuberculosis. Once the decision had been made, the new journal was launched in 1935; it was called Diseases of the Chest. Its first Editor in Chief was Charles M. Hendricks, MD (Table 1 ). As tuberculosis became more controllable and curable with drug therapy, articles about diseases other than tuberculosis became more commonly published in Diseases of the Chest. In a move to herald the change of stewardship that included a focus on publishing content that was more multidisciplinary, the newly appointed fifth Editor in Chief, Alfred Soffer, MD, Master FCCP, in 1970 encouraged the publisher, the ACCP, to officially change the name of the journal to CHEST.


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  		Table 1. Editors in Chief of Diseases of the Chest/Chest

 
In 1993, the baton of Editor in Chief was passed from Dr. Soffer to Dr. Block, and the success and stature of CHEST continued to grow. Depending on one’s perspective, there are a variety of ways by which the success and quality of medical journals can be measured. These include: circulation; manuscript submissions; quality of publications as reflected by acceptance rate, citation counts, and impact factor2 (ie, a measure of the frequency with which the average article in a journal is cited in a particular year); and financial health. From the standpoint of an Editor in Chief, all of these measures are important. During Dr. Block’s tenure, the data show a steady improvement in all over the past 12 years. To ensure that CHEST accepted the best manuscripts received, Dr. Block implemented a policy in which he personally reviewed every manuscript at the completion of the peer review process. At this time, CHEST has: (1) the highest regular annual circulation (eg, 20,450)3 of any respiratory or critical care journal in the world; (2) a rising number of annual manuscript submissions, from 2,080 in 1994, to 2,300 in 2003, to 2,952 in 2004, to a projected number of 3,500 in 2005; (3) a steadily falling annual acceptance rate from 43% in 1993 to 18% in 2004, despite the enormous rise in manuscript submissions; (4) the second highest number of total citations of 31 respiratory journals4; (5) a rising impact factor of 3.114; and (6) an enviable financial performance. Because CHEST enjoys good financial health and is committed to supporting the educational mission of the ACCP, it remains one of the least expensive medical specialty journals; this facilitates its accessibility to subscribers, libraries, and institutions around the globe.

Dr. Block encouraged the international development of CHEST. At this time, CHEST is distributed to 101 countries with special translated print editions in China, Italy, Mexico, and parts of Latin America, Spain, and Turkey, as well as with a special English-language edition in India. These international editions account for an approximate additional 33,100 subscribers over the regular rate mentioned above. Reprints of regular CHEST articles are translated into many languages and are distributed around the world. CHEST is also made available free of charge to institutions in the world’s most economically disadvantaged countries through a partnership with the Health InterNetwork Access to Research Initiative, an initiative of the World Health Organization introduced by United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan.5

Last, Dr. Block ushered in a variety of technological advances including an electronic management system (eg, online submission and peer review of manuscripts) that has improved efficiency and reduced the costs of the entire editorial process.

Jay, thank you for a job well done. We celebrate your accomplishments and wish you the best.

As I assume the stewardship of CHEST, I pledge to carry out the responsibilities expected of an Editor in Chief,6 as espoused by the World Association of Medical Editors (Table 2 ). While I shall carry out all of the expected responsibilities listed in Table 2, I take this opportunity to focus my comments in broad terms on three particular responsibilities: "Editors are responsible to readers, and should learn about their needs and interests"; "Editors should plan for the future of their journals"; and "Editors must not have personal, financial, or other relationships linked in any way to any of their responsibilities as an editor."


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  		Table 2. Responsibilities of Editors*

 
While it is my responsibility and one of my goals to improve the quality of research, scholarly publications, and educational offerings published in CHEST to advance our field, I will not attempt to do so at the expense of publishing what our readers expect and need. CHEST is above all else a clinical journal, and a very popular one as demonstrated by its circulation. Therefore, while it will be an objective of mine to improve the impact factor of CHEST, I will not want to increase the impact factor at the expense of the circulation base, because the circulation base, in my mind, is a much better barometer of whether or not CHEST is meeting the needs and interests of our readers.

In planning for the future of CHEST, I have had focused conversations with many of you, surveyed our membership, and arranged a strategic planning meeting with a newly established, outstanding, multidisciplinary, multinational, advisory group of Associate Editors (Table 3 ). While there are many issues to be discussed and resolved, I am committed to the following changes: (1) continuing to elevate the reputation of CHEST as a superior source to find better science and scholarly works in critical care and sleep as well as pulmonary medicine; (2) more sharply focusing the content of cardiovascular subject matter to cardiovascular relationships as they relate to pulmonary, critical care, and sleep; (3) having CHEST become more reflective of contemporary societal issues and the practice of medicine (eg, public policy, reimbursement, open access publishing, liability reform, and patient-focused care); and (4) enhancing the subject matter published in print and online to make CHEST easier and faster to read (eg, utilizing tailored formats such as editors providing "bottom-line" conclusions to go with complex articles7), and access (eg, allowing subscribers to download online material to hand-held computers). These changes will be gradually instituted over the months ahead.


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  		Table 3. Associate Editors of CHEST

 
In order for the successes and stature of CHEST to be elevated to a higher level, CHEST and its Editor in Chief must continuously strive to earn the trust of readers, authors, researchers, editors, patients, research subjects, funding agencies, and administrators of public health policy. To earn this trust, the entire peer review process of CHEST will be thorough, objective, transparent, and fair; it will mirror the comprehensive policy on publication ethics summarized by the World Association of Medical Editors.8 In addition, as the Editor in Chief, I disclose that I do not and will not have personal, financial, or other relationships linked in any way to any of my editorial responsibilities. While I will continue to accept royalties from the sales of books that I edit, I will no longer serve on any advisory boards, do consultant work for industry, or give lectures sponsored by industry.

I look forward to the work and challenges ahead.

References

  1. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary 10th Ed. 1999,1154 Merriam-Webster. Springfield, MA:
  2. Jellinek, NJ, Desousa, RA, Bernhard, JD The clinical influence of the JAAD. J Am Acad Dermatol 2004;50,470-474[CrossRef][ISI][Medline]
  3. Standard Rate and Data Service 2004 Standard Rate and Data Service. Des Plaines, IL: July
  4. Institute for Scientific Information. 2003 journal citation reports: journal impact factor. Available at: http://www.isinet.com/products/evaltools/jcr/jcrweb/. Accessed June 22, 2005
  5. The Health InterNetwork Access to Research Initiative. Available at: http://www.healthinternetwork.org. Accessed June 16, 2005
  6. The World Association of Medical Editors. A syllabus for prospective and newly appointed editors. Available at: http://www.wame.org/syllabus.htm. Accessed June 16, 2005
  7. The Editors. Annals faces the future: quicker service, broader access, tailored formats Ann Intern Med 2003;139,860-862[Free Full Text]
  8. The World Association of Medical Editors (WAME). WAME recommendations on publications ethics policies for medical journals. Available at: http://wame.org/pubethicrecom.htm. Accessed June 16, 2005



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