Communication, Communication, Communication

Abstract

It's not what our message does to the listener, but what the listener does with our message, that determines our success as communicators.1 IN JUST 17 YEARS, JBMR has gone from a “twinkle” in a few people's eyes to an outstanding success as the leading bone journal and one of the top endocrine journals internationally, through the remarkable contributions of our previous Editors, Marc Drezner and Larry Raisz. The developments initiated by Marc with the support of Adrienne Lea, Director of Publications, have positioned JBMR to take the next step along with other forward-thinking scientific media to push forward into and onto the Web. I am very pleased, and not a little daunted, by the opportunity and responsibility of leading the new Editorial team for the Journal at this challenging time of changing publication media. We plan to build on JBMR's already superb success and raise its profile even higher, so that it becomes the obvious Journal of choice for all authors and readers for the best basic science and best clinical science relevant to our field. Our aim is to make JBMR the first stop for all who would seek to learn more about bone and mineral. It will continue to cover bone, bone biology, and all mineral-related research from clinical to basic, from molecular biology to animal models, and from genetics to standards of clinical care. The Editorial team, including the outstanding staff of the JBMR Editorial office, will work toward reaching the widest possible target audience, with innovative ways of providing JBMR access to all interested colleagues throughout the world. Equity of access to science as a concept requires innovative approaches using the worldwide web to make the best of bone and mineral science available to all who could benefit from its implications. Web-first publication will enhance the immediacy for the highest quality science that we plan to publish, for those who publish in JBMR and those who read JBMR. Web-based approaches will also help broaden our audience, both geographically and by scientific discipline. I welcome all comments, thoughts, and suggestions as to how we can work toward improving our Journal, which is already a major contributor to the bone and mineral research field. The Editorial team anticipates your contributions and cooperation in sending us the very best of your work by alerting us to new and exciting areas of research that impact on our field and by participating efficiently in the review process. Your contributions, as members of this scientific community, will play a major role in all aspects of the process. I am very pleased that my first choices for Associate Editors, who were unanimously supported by the Publications Committee, all enthusiastically accepted their roles in this new challenge. These individuals were chosen for the outstanding quality and breadth of their science and for their recognition in their respective fields. They are the all-important ambassadors for the Journal, reaching out to all areas of bone biology and mineral metabolism. Our Associate Editors are Sylvia Christakos, Gerard Karsenty, Shigeaki Kato, Olof Johnell, Pam Robey, David Roodman, Andy Stewart, and Raj Thakker. In this age of increasing pressure on time and on our human resources, the number of scientific papers published continues to increase exponentially each year. As readers, we are hard pressed to remain abreast of all that is relevant to our own field, let alone maintain a wider view of the scientific literature. As authors of scientific papers, we are under increasing pressure to deliver our “message” more and more effectively and efficiently. As the Editorial team of JBMR, we aim to address these issues, to serve our authors, and to reach out to our audience in ways that take these pressures into consideration, while we strive to publish still higher quality science. Using the advantages of our Editorial Manager electronic submission, it will be possible to further streamline the review process and to shorten the time from acceptance to publication. The Editorial team is committed to shortening the review process and improving the Journal's immediacy. For some pivotal studies, this will include presubmission planning to facilitate review and Web-based publication “as soon as accepted.” A turn-around time of 2 days from submission to first response is planned for such pivotal papers on a prearranged, yet stringent, review process. A manuscript, accepted through this prearranged review pathway, could be published on the Web at the time of acceptance, as early as 48 h after submission. This will depend on a 24-h review by the selected, prearranged reviewers. We will also work toward initiating a triage process to minimize delays for unsuccessful manuscripts. The development of new presentation formats will allow more rapid “Is this interesting to me?” assessments and facilitate finding key information in each paper. A brief key points summary or microabstract (at the beginning of each abstract) and in the table of contents will be developed by and with the authors for every paper. By working with our authors, it will be possible to help develop our Journal as a “Rosetta stone” between basic and clinical science. The aim is to ensure that the most basic scientist can appreciate what is important in a major clinical paper and that the clinical relevance of cutting-edge basic science is apparent to our clinical audience. We hope to help make basic and clinical, clinical and basic science accessible to all with an interest in this vital and growing field of science. New developments should be widely available, as should key opinion and position papers. This will include new advances in the ways to approach standard questions and to identify novel questions. Consensus reviews, by the field's leaders, on what is clear and what is uncertain in major, rapidly changing issues, will be one way of contributing to these processes. Flow diagrams in complex regulatory pathways will help communicate these advances in knowledge. Twenty-five years ago, in a debate at the first ASBMR meeting at Anaheim, I heard the leaders of this Society argue that for the success of bone and mineral research, ASBMR had to welcome international members as full members. I have recognized the strength of that commitment in that I was able to serve, as a non-North American, on the ASBMR Council, and over the past 8 years, as one of the JBMR's Associate Editors. The Society is now taking another bold step in showing its commitment to the global nature of our scientific society. Embracing current technology will allow an Australian scientist living and working in Australia to fulfill the role of Editor-in-Chief and to work seamlessly with the outstanding Editorial Office team in Durham. With new technological developments, it is possible to deliver access to new advances more rapidly and efficiently and thereby foster the recognition of bone and mineral research and its relevance and significance across all scientific fields. I look forward to the next 5 years as an exciting time as JBMR continues its growth in stature and becomes ever more widely and rapidly available across all scientific fields, irrespective of geography.