Changing of the guard.

Sharing our knowledge and insights with others remains a cornerstone of the medical profession. Publishing case reports that highlight unusual and interesting diseases, contributing original research that brings attention to new information, and writing review articles that shed different perspectives on previously published works has always been and continues to be the foundation for the dissemination of medical knowledge. The aforementioned, in turn, ignites the fuel that leads to change, which ultimately benefits our patients through improvements in diagnosis, therapy and management. While some may question the need for yet another journal, given the plethora of journals already in circulation, there is in fact a need for them all since each has its own target audience and fills its own unique niche. The journal Dermatology Practical & Conceptual (DPC) is no different. It was the vision of Dr. Harald Kittler to create an online open-access journal for clinicians interested in practical issues and concepts relevant to the care of dermatologic conditions. With this in mind the first issue of DPC, with Dr. Harald Kittler as its first editor (2011–2013), was launched October 2011. DPC quickly garnered a loyal following of readers and was embraced by the International Dermoscopy Society as its official organ for publication. Under Harald Kittler’s stewardship there was a steady increase in the number and in the quality of articles submitted to DPC. It is a testament to the quality of the submissions that 79% of articles submitted between 2011–2013 were accepted, after peer review, for publication. On February 5, 2013, due in no small part to the efforts of the first editor of DPC, the reviewers, authors, and the Derm101 staff, PubMed Central endorsed DPC by accepting all issues of the journal, staring with the October 2011 issue, to be indexed in PubMed. After his tireless work and dedication to DPC, Dr. Harald Kittler decided that “new blood” was required to continue to improve the journal. It was obvious to all involved in DPC that the ideal person to take over the reins of editorship of DPC was Dr. Iris Zalaudek. It was fortunate for us all that Dr. Zalaudek, who is the undisputed “Queen of Dermoscopy,” accepted the challenge. She served as editor of DPC from 2013–2015 and she was instrumental in widening DPC readership and in soliciting authors to submit their work to DPC. Under her leadership, DPC experienced a 48% increase in submissions, many of which highlight novel findings and continue to be referenced by others. In 2015 Dr. Iris Zalaudek decided to step down as editor of the journal. Now arose the challenge of finding a successor to take over the editorship of DPC. It was common knowledge to all prospective editors that Drs. Kittler and Zalaudek had sunk their hearts and souls into the journal by working extremely hard and allocating much of their free time to ensuring its success. Thus, it was with trepidation that we (Dr. Ashfaq A. Marghoob and Dr. Michael A. Marchetti) jointly applied for the about-to-be-vacant editorship seat. After deliberation, the DPC committee accepted our offer of joint editorship of DPC. Truth be told, while we are honored to have been named editors of DPC starting in 2016, we remain extremely nervous since we know the work involved and acknowledge that we can never fill the shoes of the previous editors. With that said, we have made a pledge to do our utmost at moving DPC forward and in continuing the vision of the previous editors. We have already made strides by implementing a system for the electronic submission and review of articles. While we acknowledge that there will be some bumps in the road, ultimately the electronic submission process should prove more effective, organized and efficient. Together with the reviewers we will continue to strive to bring to press insightful, novel, impactful, and relevant articles; if successful, our efforts should result in increased citations of DPC articles in other journals. We intend to track the number of citations to articles in proportion to the number of articles published, and as this proportion improves, we hope to eventually submit DPC to Thomson Reuters for evaluation with the intent of obtaining an official journal impact factor. Needless to say, much work remains before we can accomplish this task; however, we are confident that with the help and understanding of the readership, authors and reviewers, we will succeed. We thank you for trusting us with the task of editorship of DPC and look forward to working with all of you at improving DPC, educating our colleagues and helping take better care of our patients.