One of the fortunes of serving the Journal of Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation and Prevention (JCRP) is the opportunity to meet and work with tremendously dedicated people, whose professional and personal lives are already full and for whom I wonder how they commit to do more. I am fortunate to work with such a group, each of whom has played a significant role in continuing to elevate JCRP's quality and visibility within the research and clinical communities. The Journal's Associate Editors, Drs Brian Carlin, Jerome Fleg, Bonnie Sanderson, and James Stone, have each contributed in a singular manner to facilitate quality manuscript submission and review, while assisting in setting the course for the Journal in the next 5 years. Ms Kathleen Phelan and Ms Amy Myers continue to provide great support from Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, our Publisher. Finally, our Managing Editor, Ms Abigail Lynn, continues to use her skillful organizational talents to keep us on track: a special thanks to Abigail.
The state of JCRP is very positive.
* As of October 2008, manuscript submission is up 51% over the previous period last year and, specifically, we have seen significant increases in submissions from our international colleagues.
* The Journal successfully expanded its policies for disclosing relationships of potential conflicts of interest, to reviewers and editorial staff, each database file now incorporating this information. This course of action has allowed for documentation while not adding significantly to the overall process.
* Readers will also have noted a new publication sequence for scientific abstracts from the American Association of Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation and the Canadian Association of Cardiac Rehabilitation. Previously, abstracts had been published together in one issue, but in 2008 (and again in 2009), these were published in separate issues. We believe this provides for more emphasis to each association's research, which appeared to be very well received by readers.
* 2009 looks to be an exciting year for the Journal with an upcoming new-look Web site, which is significantly more than just a new look. The state-of-the-art Web site functions will provide users with a number of new interactive opportunities, with links for easily searching for related articles and materials as well as previous work from authors, just to mention a couple of examples.
* Featured reviews have become an anticipated and staple component of the Journal, with 11 such papers published in 2008. We will continue this approach in 2009, beginning with the featured review in this issue, "A Review of Lipid Management in Primary and Secondary Prevention" by Drs Dembowski and Davidson, and continuing with reviews of risk assessment in asymptomatic individuals, resistance training in diabetes and obesity, and current and future directions for pulmonary rehabilitation in subsequent issues.
I appreciate the interest and support of the Journal's readership and, as always, I invite your comments.
My best wishes for 2009.
-Mark A. Williams, PhD, FAACVPR
Editor-in-Chief