Editorial
Authors: Simpson Evan , Spada Anna 
Published: December 2007

Dear Readers, Having served as Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Molecular Endocrinology for seven years, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who have contributed to the journal's success – the Editorial Board, authors and referees.

Following a great increase in the journal's impact factor in the early part of my term of office, submissions to the journal began to increase significantly, approaching a remarkable 250% of what they had been previously. This gave us the opportunity to build upon the journal's established reputation by improving its high quality standards even further. One of the ways of achieving this was to increase the rejection rate. Prior to 2000, the acceptance rate of the journal had typically been around 60% for many years. In recent years, this percentage has often been in the thirties. Despite this, the number of papers published in a year has frequently been more than it was historically, and rapid growth from one year to the next has sometimes had the effect of temporarily decreasing the journal's impact factor compared with the heights we had previously achieved, because of the way it is calculated. We have also increased the journal's online frequency to monthly, ensuring that the journal is poised ready for the rapid publication of greater numbers of higher quality papers.

With this legacy, I am pleased to hand over the reins of the journal to Professor Anna Spada, and I wish her well in taking the journal to new heights.

As the incoming Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Molecular Endocrinology, I feel proud to be associated with a major international journal dedicated to publishing excellent science in the field of molecular endocrinology. Together with the new members of the Editorial Board, we are committed to continue the tradition of excellence established by our predecessors. We would like to take this opportunity to thank the outgoing Editor-in-Chief, Professor Evan Simpson, who contributed greatly to the development and prestige of the journal during his tenure. We would also like to acknowledge with gratitude the efforts of all the other members of the Editorial Board who are retiring.

As we enter the year 2008, the journal begins its 20th year of serving the global endocrine community as a vital forum for research on molecular endocrinology. Moreover, the journal recently became an official journal of the European Society of Endocrinology, a fact that confirms its increasing significance and importance. The journal has an active Editorial Board who represent both the global reach of the journal and the breadth of expertise needed to build upon its current subject coverage.

Journal of Molecular Endocrinology has undergone substantial developments recently, including full migration to an electronic manuscript handling system and monthly online publication, together with immediate publication of authors' accepted manuscripts. These changes, together with the hard work of the staff of the Society for Endocrinology, the journal's publisher, have had a major impact on the efficiency of manuscript handling, with rapid and careful decisions on submitted manuscripts. High-profile review articles are freely available to all on the web and the improved features of the new platform, including toll-free reference linking and ‘This article has been cited by…’ links to and from other major journals, have increased JME's online visibility.

We are committed to publishing the best endocrine research at the molecular level, and we believe that the journal has a particular role in integrating basic molecular mechanisms towards understanding the physiological and pathological processes of the endocrine system. We want to encourage the submission of manuscripts that expand our knowledge of the molecular mechanisms underlying hormone action; examples of potential topics include proteomics, structural features of RNA and the impact on mRNA regulation and processing, DNA repair mechanisms underlying endocrine disorders and cancers, DNA–protein complexes and chromatin structures and the accessibility of promoter–regulatory regions, molecular chaperones, etc. Articles on molecular endocrinology with potential translational/clinical significance, methodology and bioinformatics tools are especially welcome. We also want to attract papers from leaders in other fields who are investigating endocrine-related aspects but do not traditionally publish in our journal. A series of mini-reviews will address a wide range of provocative and updated topics that we believe will extend our range of interest and will aim to anticipate the future direction of many specific research areas. As many of the mini-reviews will be invited, we welcome suggestions of topics and authors as well as outlines of potential mini-reviews from interested authors.

It is with a good deal of humility that I take over the reins of the journal. It is my intention to ensure that it remains at the forefront of endocrine research and, along with the Editorial Board, we are hopeful that we can raise JME's standards even higher.