The 40th Meeting of the Editorial Board

A few weeks ago, we held the 40th meeting of the Editorial Board of Human Fertility in London. At that meeting, the Editorial Board were pleased to hear that the number of downloads of journal papers had doubled in the past 12 months. As such, I’d like to thank our authors for their submissions to the journal because without them there would be no papers to download!

What is interesting about the download data is that the most popular articles by far are those which are based on opinion, experience or policy. As such, I am keen to encourage the submission of more commentary articles which can synthesise current knowledge and perhaps help to move the debate forwards by proposing a new approach or by challenge an existing paradigm. As an example, please see the excellent commentary by Priya Bhinde and colleagues in this issue (Bhinde et al., 2017).

We are also proud of the multi-disciplinary approach that Human Fertility has always encouraged, and in this regard the Editorial Board considered whether our current recommended page limits for articles (2,500 words) was too restrictive for those working in the social sciences or in other non-medical/bench science disciplines. As such, the Editorial Board have agreed to increase the word count for qualitative papers that fall within the journal remit. This change is with immediate effect and we hope it encourages more submissions from those working in these areas. If in doubt, please contact myself or Sandra Downing in the editorial office for assistance.