A year on

As we present the first issue of 2018, it seems appropriate to reflect on some of the changes that have occurred in the past year as well as share some further thoughts regarding the future direction of our journal.

Reflecting often brings up feelings of gratitude and it seems opportune to first take the opportunity to thank all the authors, editors, and reviewers who have given their time and expertise so generously to the four issues published in 2017. The journal could not exist without you all and we are grateful for your hard work and support. I would also like to thank Rachel Smitley, Managing Editor, Allied & Public Health and Diamond Milton, Production Editor of Taylor & Francis, who have been wonderful and very supportive to work with.

Looking back, several of the challenges of the past year have been related to the submission of manuscripts and the (lack of) production of hard copies of International Journal of Transgenderism (IJT). At times the flow of submissions felt more like a trickle during a drought, but nevertheless, thanks to the outstanding efforts and participation of particularly all associate editors, and reviewers involved, we managed to produce four issues. They were all full issues and published on time—online. We have also streamlined our peer review process and have managed to reduce the average days from submission to first decision to just about a month, and the average days from submission to final decision to just under 7 weeks. The overall acceptance rate of submitted manuscripts is approximately 40%, and likely to reduce further as International Journal of Transgenderism becomes more desirable to publish in.

Another major challenge in 2017 has been the fact that our publisher Taylor & Francis did not produce a sufficient amount of hard copies of IJT for WPATH members and other subscribers. This resulted in many of you receiving most hard copies at the end of 2017. A poor performance for which I, as editor-in-chief apologize sincerely, even though this part of the publishing production process is outside my direct remit. The future of our journal like all journals is, however, paperless. In the not too distant future, I envisage that there will be no more hard copies printed as all manuscript will be accessible online as an advanced publication. This is not only cost effective and more efficient, but it also contributes to a healthier planet.

As spring is fast approaching, the flow at International Journal of Transgenderism is once again increasing and we are looking forward to bringing you plenty of interesting, diverse, and high-quality material to read in 2018. This issue contains a number of interesting review papers, clinically focused manuscripts, and psychological research from a variety of locations, including North America, Europe, and Australia. In the next issue, you may want to look out for the guest editorial on “Today's transgender youth: Health, well-being, and opportunities for resilience” by Ryan J. Watson and Jaimie F. Veale, who excellently guest edited this special issue with an impressive range of papers from a variety of experts in the field on this theme.

Furthermore, we are proud to announce that 2019 will see a special issue focusing on nonbinary and genderqueer genders, which I am currently editing together with guest editors Joz Motmans and Timo O. Nieder. Joz Motmans is Guest Professor and Deputy Director of the Centre for Research on Culture and Gender at Ghent University, Belgium. He coordinates the central information and knowledge center on trans issues in Belgium (www.transinfo.be) at the Centre of Sexology and Gender at the University Hospital in Ghent, Belgium. Timo Nieder is Head of the Outpatient Unit for Sexual Health and Transgender Care at the Institute of Sex Research and Forensic Psychiatry, University Medical Centre Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE), Germany. Timo co-founded the Interdisciplinary Transgender Health Care Centre (ITHCCH) at UKE and is co-chair of the guideline development for transgender health in Germany. The response following the Call for Abstracts has been overwhelming with a wide and diverse variety of abstract submissions. We feel privileged to add to the growing body of research in the area of non-binary and genderqueer genders.

There are some further thoughts I would like to share regarding the future direction of our Journal. They consist of three important issues, which are PubMed and MedLine inclusion, Impact Factor (IF), and the name of our journal.

Walter Bockting and his predecessors have bequeathed to our care a well-established peer-reviewed journal. Circulation to WPATH members, other subscribers, and libraries is well over a thousand copies and growing, which means there is good penetration in the United States and beyond. Nevertheless, when compared with some of our key competitors there is ample room for improvement, particularly outside the United States. So, how can we “internationalize” further? How do we increase our global appeal? In order to think globally and increase our international profile, a number of strategies are being developed within the Associate Editorial Board in close collaboration with WPATH and our supportive publisher Taylor & Francis.

Firstly, we aim to recruit a substantial amount of new members to the editorial board with the aforementioned desirable global representation. This will have to be a fair and transparent process and will be initiated following the next Editorial Board Meeting at the 25^th Biennial WPATH Conference in Buenos Aires, Argentina. We also require more experienced and enthusiastic reviewers in order to maintain the current efficiency of the whole manuscript review process from start to finish, so that we can aim to proceed through this cycle within an average period of 6–8 weeks. Should either or both of these opportunities appeal to you, our readers please do not hesitate to contact us, or any of my fellow editors, for an informal discussion. As ever, we endeavor to keep publishing international authors and we would welcome submissions of research findings and original papers in the field of trans healthcare (in its broadest sense). We also want to ensure that IJT is relevant and accessible for both academics and practitioners, while acknowledging that many of the readers will be experienced and working in both these roles.

PubMed and MedLine

Secondly, we are working towards inclusion in PubMed and MedLine, which are databases of references and abstracts on life sciences and biomedical topics, as journals accessible via these search engines enjoy the potential of greater global exposure, which subsequently often leads to increased citation in other academic journals and thus a higher prestige for authors. The issue of greater global exposure and recognition of a journal through citation brings us to another important issue: impact.

Impact factor

Journals' impact factors (Ifs) are measured by Thomson Reuters, formerly Institute for Scientific Information and published in June each year. They are the result of a calculation which adds up the number of papers (excluding such ephemera as conference abstracts, editorials, letters, news items, and book reviews) published in a journal in the two previous years (the denominator) and then divides that figure into the number of times any papers published in the journal in the previous 2 years have been cited in peer-reviewed journals in the current year (the numerator), thus giving a figure for the number of times an “average” paper, from a particular journal's previous 2 years' worth of issues, has been cited during the year under consideration. Some universities use the IFs of journals in which an individual academic has published as a crude way of measuring the importance of that person's research, so publishing in high impact journals is a goal to which many academics (and universities) aspire. Although the value of using IFs as a crude measure of a journal's worth is debatable, we currently operate within this context, and a journal with a high IF is more likely to attract quality submissions (and thus maintain or raise its IF further) than one with a low IF or no IF listing at all, such as our journal. It is paramount that IJT gets an IF as soon as possible, so that we do not fall behind our competitors such as Transgender Health and LGBT Health. The decision whether or not to calculate and publish the IF of a particular journal is made by Thomson Reuter, and although journals via their publisher may lobby for recognition, inclusion is ultimately at Thomson's discretion.

Name change

The last and final issue I would like to share with you is that it is generally felt by many people working, advocating, and/or otherwise actively engaged in our field that the name of the journal is no longer appropriate. I certainly share this view and pledged to change the name of our journal when I was appointed as editor-in-chief. The entire Board of WPATH is supportive of a name change, whenever the opportunity to do so arises. Our publisher Taylor & Francis, which owns the journal have cautiously promised to support this change once the journal has PubMed inclusion and an impact factor. This day cannot arrive too soon.

The future

We would like reading IJT to be an indispensable requirement (and joy!) for practitioners, educators, academics, and other professionals who are active in our field. We are planning and working hard with Taylor & Francis to ensure inclusion in PubMed and Medline and acquire a decent IF listing, hopefully this year. Much still needs to be done and good things come to those with the patience to wait and the clarity of vision to act when the opportune moment arises. With the support of a global organization like WPATH, a global publisher like Taylor & Francis, and an (associate) editorial board, which consists of an astute mix of sagacious experience and youthful enthusiasm, we have the potential to achieve our aforementioned goals. You, our readers can assist us and serve your own interest by submitting your best work, citing IJT's papers when appropriate, reviewing when asked to do so, joining, rejoining, and encouraging others to join WPATH, highlighting the perk of getting our international journal online as part of WPATH membership. In return we promise to review your work as promptly and fairly as possible, with the support of experienced and capable reviewers from our database of over 300 experts in all aspects of transgender healthcare (in its broadest sense).