Platelets in 2023: hellos and goodbyes

It is with great pleasure that we (EG and WP) take over as the co-Editors-in-Chief of Platelets Journal, working alongside GH who continues as Editorial Assistant.

Under the stewardship of Steve Watson and Paul Harrison, Platelets Journal has grown greatly in stature and they have handed the reins of the Journal over in an excellent state indeed. We and the rest of the Editorial Board are extremely grateful for Steve’s and Paul’s considerate oversight and advice, as well as their unfailing determination to ensure quality and fairness of peer review throughout the Journal’s offerings. Our Journal and our field of Platelets and Megakaryocytes have benefited greatly from their stewardship and efforts.

As well as Steve and Paul, we also say thank you and goodbye to Principal Editors Wolfgang Bergmeier, Larry Frelinger, Kathleen Freson, Cedric Ghevaert, Benoit Ho-Tin-Noé, Suzanne Korporaal, Khalid Naseem and Katsue Suzuki-Inoue, who have diligently served 8 years on the Editorial Board, and all provided a great degree of expertise and professionalism in their handling of manuscripts. Accordingly, we welcome new Principal Editors Ahmed Aburima, Gemma Chiva-Blanch, Aleksandra Gasecka, Hirokazu Kashiwagi, Renhao Li, Gillian Lowe, Ishac Nazy, Matthew Rondina, Harvey Roweth, Amanda Unsworth and Dianne van der Wal, and new Methods Editor David Stegner. We are extremely happy that Matthew Harper (Review Editor) Marie Lordkipanidzé (Systematic Reviews Editor) Kellie Machlus (Social Media Editor) Mark Thomas (Protocols Editor) Gavin Jarvis (Statistical Advisor) Neil Morgan (Gene of the Issue Editor) and Kirk Taylor (EDI Officer) have all agreed to extend their terms. Thank you for joining us and we really look forward to working with you all in the coming years.

The transition of Platelets Journal to a fully open access (OA) model began in June 2022 and is now complete. We previously discussed the benefits and challenges of making this change¹ but are pleased to see that the number and quality of submissions remains high. We remain committed to improving access to Platelets Journal for both readers and authors. Hopefully, the prevalence of institutional agreements with publishers such as Taylor & Francis will increase, but we have the option of considering a certain (and small) number of fee waivers for papers of high-quality where authors are unable to pay the Article Processing Charge. Please do contact us if you are thinking of submitting to Platelets Journal but do not have the necessary financial resources available.

With the transition to OA, we have also seen other changes in how the Journal is run and produced. The final issue of volume 33 was the last to be available in a paper version. From the current volume, publication will be online-only as part of a single “issue” each year. While to a certain extent we all appreciate the tangibility and structure of a paper journal, the reality is that the number of in-print subscribers has continually declined and with all papers now OA, an online-only model makes most sense. This will also mean there is no backlog to catalog manuscripts that are awaiting inclusion in a printed issue, minimizing any citation questions.

Though moving to online-only publication, we are keen to retain many of the features that makes Platelets Journal a welcoming journal at the heart of the field. The cover image competition will continue each year, the image being featured as our web ident for that volume. There was stiff competition this year and the winner was a wonderful picture of the nucleus of a maturing mitotic human megakaryocyte submitted by Professor Walter Kahr and his team at the University of Toronto.

Previously, a paper from each of the eight yearly issues was selected for “Plenary” status. We are replacing this with the selection of eight “Papers of the Year,” to be judged by the Editorial Board and announced at the turn of the year on completion of each volume.

Our successful Special Review Series continue. At present we are publishing the series “Antiplatelet therapy in under-represented groups” (Series Editor: William Parker), “Platelets-on-a-chip” (Series Editor: Matthew Harper) and “Provocative Questions in Platelet Omics Studies” (Series Editors: Angel Garcia and Joe Aslan). To complement these, we have recently been working with the Taylor & Francis Content Acquisition Team to launch a rolling series of Article Collections. This new venture for Platelets Journal will showcase state-of-the-art topics with an open call for papers, which will be handled by Guest Advisors. The topics chosen for our first two collections will be “Platelets and Stroke Recovery” and “Signalling pathways in Megakaryopoiesis and Clinical Implications.” It is anticipated this will be followed by more as the scheme develops. If you have any suggestions for an Article Collection or would be interested in being a Guest Advisor, please get in touch with Gayle Halford [email protected]

We wish all our authors, editors and readers a prosperous 2023 and hope you continue to engage with our unique journal.