Free Radical Research was started in 1985 under the founding editorship of Joe Bannister. Since then it has become established as a leading journal in the field of free radical research guided by its two long-serving Editors-in-Chief, Barry Halliwell and Helmut Sies. The journal starts the year of 2009 in great shape, with an upward trend in the impact factor (now 2.93) and a changing of the baton, with a new pairing of Editors-in-Chief, a new editorial structure and a re-invigorated and restructured Editorial Board. These changes will build on the momentum generated over the past few years by Barry, Helmut and the wider Editorial Board, and will hopefully result in a further increase in the amount of high-quality research published by the journal and an increased influence in the scientific community involved in research in to the chemical, biological and medical influence of oxidants and oxidative processes.
It is a great pleasure to acknowledge the enormous input and enthusiasm put in to the journal, over very many years, by Barry Halliwell. We also thank those colleagues who are leaving the Editorial Board for their considerable efforts and dedication. We welcome the new members of the editorial team who we hope will take the journal to even higher levels. The input and advice of the office-bearers and officials of SFRR-Europe has been very positive and helpful in the process of appointing the new editorial team and guiding the development of the journal during this transition phase.
The new editorial structure is planned to provide a robust structure that will serve the journal over the next few years. The handling of initial submissions to the journal has been altered such that the two Editors-in-Chief will work in tandem with four Associate Editors in organizing the rapid and comprehensive review of incoming articles; these will be assessed by members of the Editorial Board and by expert reviewers from the scientific community. A new addition to the editorial structure is the appointment of two Reviews Editors who have a specific remit to identify new and exciting areas of science and medicine that would benefit from a comprehensive review. Unlike some other journals, these review articles will not be confined by specific lengths or formats, allowing material to be presented in the most appropriate format and in a timely and rigorous manner.
We should emphasize that, although the journal is the offspring of the European region and is the official journal of SFRR-Europe, the journal is global and the Editorial team and Board are truly international in scope. We are particularly glad that the journal is now also the official journal of SFRR-Asia. We welcome articles of the highest quality, irrespective of the region of origin around the globe.
Our thanks go to Matthew Pacey, who has recently moved on, and the editorial team at Informa in the UK for their long-standing input, support and enthusiasm for the journal. We welcome the opportunity to interact with Carolyn Honour who will be overseeing the publisher's side of the journal from New York. Finally, we thank all of our Reviewers and Authors for their enthusiasm, hard work and submissions that have brought the journal to its current well-recognized position. We hope that the free radical/oxidant community will continue to use Free Radical Research in this new exciting phase of its development.