Changes in the Editorial Leadership of the Journal

After serving as the inaugural Editor-in-Chief of the Canadian Journal of Respiratory, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine (CRJCCSM) for the past 3 years, Dr. Peter D. Paré stepped down from this position in December 2018. Dr. Paré has been instrumental in leading the transition from our past Canadian Thoracic Society journal, the Canadian Respiratory Journal (CRJ), to the new CJRCCSM, when Pulsus Group Inc. has sold the CRJ to Hindawi in December 2015 (1). The CRJ was the first official CTS Journal, and under the successive leadership of Drs. Norman Jones, Nick Anthonisen, and Peter D. Paré (2011–2015), it achieved steady progress in becoming recognized as a world-class respiratory publication.

Dr. Paré is one of our most distinguished leaders in respiratory medicine in Canada and to succeed him in his position at the CJRCCSM is a daunting task. He is an Emeritus Professor at the University of British Columbia and served on various national and international committees in addition to being a Past-President of the CTS. He has received numerous awards and his contributions to the advancement of knowledge in respiratory medicine is enormous, particularly in pathophysiology and genetics of obstructive airway disease, in addition to his contributions to patient care and medical education.

In regard to the “changement de la garde”, Peter was kind enough to accept to become Emeritus Past Editor of the Journal, to help us to pursue his formidable work and bring our journal to “maturity”. Furthermore, Dr. Diane Lougheed, a long-time contributor and past President of the CTS well known for her work on Canadian guidelines and optimization of asthma care delivery, in addition to her seminal research work on airway physiology and perception of respiratory symptoms, has agreed to act as Deputy Editor of the Journal. This brings me to the very enviable position of being supported by two famous Canadian colleagues in respiratory medicine.

For the next few years, we aim at pursuing our excellent collaboration with the Journal’s publisher, Taylor & Francis, and to promote the publication of Canadian research and guidelines, in addition to provide up-to-date information on optimal care of respiratory diseases. We hope to have the support of the Canadian respiratory community to bring this journal to new heights. In regard to future steps, the Journal will soon be indexed in Medline and we expect an impact factor to be established within the next two years.

In addition to offering a Canadian journal for the publication of high-quality research, we want to keep publishing our renowned evidence-based Canadian Respiratory Guidelines in addition to our series on Short Overview of a Key Question, Clinical Respiratory Review, History of Canadian Respiratory Medicine, States of the art Reviews and Clinical Pathological Conferences (2).

As stated by Peter in 2017: “The journal provides a new and robust means of communicating with the Canadian and international respiratory community. Its impact is in our hands.”