The European Heart Journal: parting thoughts after 6 years of editorship

Top Cited Papers
Open Access
Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
When I took over the editorial office of the European Heart Journal in the autumn of 2002 the flow of papers was mainly handled manually, and online submission did not even exist. Today more papers are read on the website of the journal than on paper, and an efficient electronic platform distributes manuscripts for review around the world in a few seconds. The use of the internet had a tremendous impact on the review process and the speed of publication. This is not the end of the electronic revolution. Let me give you one example. Even today, most papers are published several months (and, in the case of a cumbersome review, sometimes a year) after submission, thus hampering progress especially in rapidly evolving fields. Furthermore, debates on important published study results usually take place at meetings or webcasts organized several months after publication. Writing a letter to the editor is another possible way of commenting on published results, but few people read these letters besides the correspondent and the authors of the paper involved. It seems therefore likely that, in the future, authors may want to discuss their work with colleagues on a website, similar to Facebook, which could become a kind of electronic journal club allowing discussions among researchers shortly after publication. Other electronic revolutions are pending, and journals, medical societies, and industry will have to take advantage of these opportunities.

This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: