The journal and priority.

This editorial is not a homily on responsibility, but it is imperative for the Neurocritical Care Society membership to publish in Neurocritical Care in order to continue its growth. The unpleasant fact is that many more should contribute to this task. The journal should be the main repository of original articles and review papers that interest us all. Simply put, it should not be a painstaking process to decide where to submit your paper. Its proximity is an opportunity—not an option. Why is this suddenly an urgent matter? First and foremost, there has been an explosion of open-access journals and new advances in digital technology will continue to challenge the whole concept of a journal, its structure, and whether it is the best platform. Open-access journals entice authors with a barrage of emails and often with a hidden fee or other unexpected later discomfort in return of the promise to publish quickly. One can understand that it is human nature to circumnavigate a sometimes frustrating peer-review process and to submit a paper to a journal which quickly accepts it. Many of these journals—or what they pretend to be—dilute the academic world and we should never give them the keys to the kingdom. Moreover, there has been some growth of other closely related subspecialty journals and many have a narrow focus— sometimes a condition or procedure—and thus a narrow readership. We are all-encompassing. Neurocritical Care should benefit from a loyal membership. Neurocritical Care is for every physician treating patients with acute neurologic disease and, above all, a forum for the Neurocritical Care Society membership. We publish an amalgamation of clinical data, opinions, and innovative thoughts. This not only applies to original articles and review articles but also to carefully fleshed out case reports with immediate practical value. Authors who present their best work initially to Neurocritical Care have always seen a fast turnaround and publication within weeks after submission. The Journal also pings reviewers to look over the material promptly and comprehensively and request for reviews should be answered within a week. When surveyed, our readers have favorably rated the speed of review, speed of production, and rapid handling of the proofs. When work for our journal has a priority everything else should stop for a moment. We know too well that when we do not care things slow down. Priority also pertains to manuscript categories and some changes can be expected in the next years. The journal is inviting more review articles and we will over the next years quadruple the number of review articles. A review article is a difficult process and requires a significant effort often reviewing a decade of scientific work followed by careful interpretation of the material. We believe that publishing review articles is important for practitioners and doing so will create the opportunity to shape the literature and add to the body of knowledge. Our manuscript category ‘‘Essentials and Basics’’ will expand and readers are invited to submit short but practical reviews on day to day management issues. Longer comprehensive reviews which may include sections on pathophysiology are very much welcomed. We will have an increased attention to comprehensive clinical pathologic conferences and the journal will publish well-worked out cases. We would like to see papers on clinical cases where there have been tough decisions and where there has been a potential for errors. Mortality and morbidity conferences that include critical care or neurocritical care can be written E. F. M. Wijdicks (&) Division of Critical Care Neurology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA e-mail: wijde@mayo.edu