Growing Challenges and Opportunities

All good things must come to an end, and so it is with my time as Co-Editor in Chief of Respirology. It has been a pleasure and a privilege to work with such a fantastic team for the last 9 years. Together with the excellent support of the Editorial Office and all of the Editorial team, we have seen the impact factor rise from the low ‘3's’ to consistently above 6, with the journal now ranked in the top 10 respiratory journals. Further, the journal is now on a solid financial footing, greatly benefiting our parent organisation, the APSR. Selection of future EiCs has been formalised and rendered more transparent with a new Expression of Interest Process. I am pleased to be handing over the reins to Professor David Lam, based in Hong Kong and a former President of the APSR. David has had a very long relationship with Respirology, having served as a Deputy Editor for many years. He will join Dr. Toshiaki Kikuchi from Japan, who took over from Professor Philip Bardin at the end of 2024. I would like to take this opportunity to again thank Phil for all of his vision and support with our direction for Respirology over the years. While things are changing at EiC level, our highly skilled Editorial Office will remain based in Perth, Australia, led by Lieve Bultynck along with Christel Norman, Bella Joubert (who took over from Anke Van Eekelen earlier this year), Rosa Gualano and Debra Sandford. Much has changed in the publishing world over the last 9 years, not the least of which being the growing role of Artificial Intelligence in all aspects of life. Respirology is committed to ensuring we can harness the benefits of this new technology without compromising scientific integrity. This is especially relevant for authors for whom English is not their first language. Open Access policies have also given the publishing industry a major shake-up, with many funding bodies now insisting the work they support is immediately accessible to all. This has resulted in journals transitioning from a subscription model to a model whereby publication costs are met by published authors. This is currently often supported by transitional arrangements with institutional support, but increasingly such costs will need to be incorporated into grant budgets. Strong editorial control will continue to ensure the high quality of articles published in Respirology is maintained despite the revenue per article model. Respirology prides itself on an efficient streamlined review process. We receive a very large (and growing) number of submissions, with only a fraction making it through to full formal review. While at times this may seem harsh, this allows authors to rapidly move on to other options if their work is unlikely to make it through a review, and ensures that our cohort of reviewers is not overburdened with requests for work that is not likely to progress. All journals face a struggle to find an adequate number of reviewers in today's busy scientific and health environment. Once an article does make it to formal review, final acceptance occurs in about 50%. Periodically we do a “sense check” on the outcomes for articles that we have rejected and can state that very few ultimately end up being published in higher ranked journals (and even then, we don't always know what changes may have been made), so we think we have the balance about right. We strongly encourage all authors to send us their best, most novel work; there is certainly scope to increase the number of original research articles per issue if they make the grade. As a scientific society, the APSR is surely the most heterogeneous grouping one could imagine, with member countries ranging from powerhouse first-world economies through to some of the poorest developing nations. We can learn from each other and importantly, inspire and lift up our colleagues. The APSR is strongly committed to supporting the growing research and clinical strengths of our region and Respirology equally strongly supports that vision. I hope this broad ambition will continue through all of the en bloc society and individual members, including those of my home society from Australia and New Zealand, and that the membership continues to grow and prosper. Paul N. Reynolds is the outgoing Co-Editor in Chief of Respirology.