Turning the page
Authors: Lane Tim 
Published: July 2015

This year will see some fundamental changes at the Annals – changes that are aimed at both enhancing and maintaining its appeal across the broad range of surgical specialties. In this respect, there have already been some important refinements to the structure of the Editorial board. The Annals will now have representatives on its panel from the diapason of subspecialties. It is hoped that this will ensure an equitable apportionment of high-quality original research, review articles and case reports from across the surgical spectrum. It represents the single most tangible adjustment to the structure of the Annals in a generation and one of which I am sure Sir Cecil Wakeley would have approved. I would like to take this opportunity to formally welcome our new board members and invite them to join with our other long-term stalwarts into what is a uniquely collegiate editorial team.

As many of our fellows and members will already be aware, there has been a significant shift made over the last few months in the handling of research contributions to the Annals. In recent weeks we have completed the transition to our new submissions portal and it is encouraging that reviewers and authors alike have commended it in equal measure. While we are sadly not in a position to accept much of the material submitted to the journal (we currently accept only one tenth of all the articles subjected to peer review) we can at least aim to improve and enhance the experience for all those involved.

In many ways this digital migration is a precursor to a number of innovations that will fundamentally transform the way in which we produce the Annals, the most significant of which is the launch of our new digital platform this month. These innovations signal a gradual move away from the printed version as the principal conduit by which the Annals is distributed. Inevitably, there will be those who will lament the passing of this hitherto more familiar and tactile media and so measures are in hand to allow for a more limited production of a paper version of the Annals for RCS fellows and members who continue to elect to receive their Annals in the traditional format. Medical colleges around the world are currently undergoing similar deliberations and for some a digital version may represent the only opportunity to maintain editorial independence – unhindered by the implications of a commercial publishing partner. It is however hoped that for the vast majority of fellows and members, the new and enhanced digital platform will offer significant advantages such that the digital version becomes the de facto medium of choice. Matt Whitaker and the team at the Annals should be congratulated for their sterling efforts in making this transition.

The new site, now live at http://publishing.rcseng.ac.uk , will enhance the experience of finding, accessing, reading, citing, sharing and saving articles from the Annals, Bulletin and FDJ. Sign-on will be much easier; page load times quicker and the search engine more powerful and intuitive. The new platform boasts improved functionality, full in-page article text and multi-media, citation tracking, reference generators and advanced social media integration. We are simultaneously launching a new video library where we will be hosting our technical videos. It will, I am certain, become a huge resource for our surgical fraternity. Our new platform will be followed later this year by the inevitable and ubiquitous app, which will allow readers to download issues of the Annals and read them offline and at leisure on whatever their tablet of choice might be. It is my belief that these and forthcoming changes herald the transformation of the Annals into a truly modern journal with all the digital services that authors and readers now rightly expect from their RCS publication.

Tim Lane

Editor-in-Chief, rcsannalseditor@gmail.com