As we approach the end of our first year as Editors-in-Chief of Platelets, we are now in a far better position to fully appreciate the considerable achievements of the founder Editor-in-Chief, Professor Stan Heptinstall, in bringing the journal to the forefront of platelet research. To celebrate the achievement of Stan, a Special Review Series was published to coincide with the ISTH Congress in Toronto (Volume 26, pages 377–412) from previous laboratory members and collaborators which was made freely available to all. The Series described the importance of Platelets to the Scientific community, Stan’s role in the Erfurt Series of Congresses which brought platelet researchers on both sides of the iron curtain together, and his many research achievements which continue today through the development of a remote platelet function assay.
Stan’s legacy is reflected in the current impact factor of 2.98. In 2015, over 400 new submissions were received. We are presently accepting just under 20% of submitted manuscripts, with a turnaround timeline from submission to first decision of under 30 days. Our aim is to reduce this time in 2016.
Over the last year, we have reduced the backlog of accepted manuscripts through a 30% increase in page numbers. We have also introduced ‘Review Series’ consisting of 5 – 7 invited articles on a focussed topic, with each review being in the order of 3,000 words.
We have so far published two Series
Platelets and infection: Volume 26, pages 285–323
Tribute to Stan Heptinstall: Volume 26, pages 377–412
Five further Series have been commissioned with a sixth one (Microfluidics, Owen McCarty Series Editor) in progress:
Platelet lifespan (Matthew Harper Series Editor)
Platelet bleeding disorders (Koneti Rao Series Editor)
Platelet receptor shedding (Liz Gardiner and Rob Andrews Series Editors)
Platelet secretion (Wally Whiteheart and Brian Storrie Series Editors)
Microvesicles (Paul Harrison and Edwin van der Pol Series Editors)
Once accepted, the Series, like all review articles, are prioritised for the next issue. We are grateful to Alastair Poole, who is the reviews editor, for his work in supporting this new venture.
We have introduced a fast track scheme in which articles are reviewed within 10 days and prioritised for publication in the next issue upon acceptance. We encourage more submissions under this scheme.
Over the past year, three Editors have stepped down. Giovanni de Gaetano and Dimitri Mikhalidis have been editors from the very inception of Platelets and have given tremendous service over the years. Indeed Dimitri was the first person to suggest Platelets as a stand-alone journal. Andrew Mumford has also finished his term. We are extremely grateful to all three for their support and hard work over the years.
Over the year, we have welcomed a number of editors to increase the expertise and international profile of the journal:
Larry Frelinger, Boston, USA
Kathleen Freson, Leuven, Belgium
Cedric Ghevaert, Cambridge, UK
Benoit Ho-Tin-Noé, Paris, France
Suzanne Korporaal, Utrecht, Holland
Marie Lordkipanidzé, Montreal, Canada
Khalid Naseem, Hull, UK
Jose Rivera, Murcia, Spain
Katsue Suzuki-Inoue, Yamanashi, Japan
Mark Thomas, Sheffield, UK
Tim Warner, London, UK
We are about to introduce a Social Media correspondent who will provide regular updates of key papers and other new developments in the journal. We are grateful to Craig Hughes, University of Reading, who has taken up this role.
We received a large number and wide variety of images for the annual front-cover competition. Images were scored blindly by the editorial board. In 2016 the front cover will be a fluorescent montage of the actin cytoskeleton of human platelets spread on fibrinogen and imaged using super-resolution microscopy which was submitted by Steve Thomas, University of Birmingham.
We would like to acknowledge and thank Gayle Halford for the fantastic editorial support over the course of the last year and all of the reviewers and authors for their support to the journal.