Acta, Past and Future (2001)

Acta Ophthalmologica was founded in 1923 by Professor K.K.K. Lundsgaard of Copenhagen and colleagues in the nordic countries. Thus, while obviously being a Danish journal it soon became the preferred scientific journal of ophthalmic researchers throughout the Nordic countries. A number of prominent chief editors have led the journal during the 20th century. Most recently, Professor Niels Ehlers served as Chief Editor for 13 years and during this time Acta Ophthalmologica developed more than in any previous period of time. When Professor Ehlers took over as Chief Editor, the journal had a circulation of 500, while today it publishes 2,600 copies per issue, a figure which is considerably higher than that of most other European ophthalmic journals. Professor Ehlers also introduced a modern, compulsory peer review process, thus ensuring the quality of the published articles and enhancing the international position of the journal. Niels Ehlers also was the driving force behind several other changes of great importance for Acta. Primary among these has been journal ownership. Acta is now an independent foundation jointly owned by the five Nordic Ophthalmological Societies. Each society provides two representatives who serve on its managing board. The direction provided by this board is of utmost importance for the journal and is the chief reason why Acta Ophthalmologica is now read by all ophthalmologists in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. This strong working relationship between the societies and Acta provides a foundation of enormous importance for the journal, making it much more attractive to authors and advertisers, and thus also to its readers. From this position of strength Professor Ehlers was able to negotiate an excellent agreement with Munksgaard, a firm which publishes more than 80 scientific journals. This agreement provides Acta Ophthalmologica with excellent publishing service while fully retaining the independence of the journal. With the present issue of Acta I begin my own period of service as Chief Editor. I inherit a journal which not only has a long and proud heritage, but also a journal that has improved and evolved tremendously in recent years. When the editorial office at the beginning of this year moved to Malmö, this was the first time ever that the office had been located outside Denmark. This move emphasises Acta’s role as the ophthalmic scientific journal for all the five Nordic countries. This is a time to continue developing Acta. I will work together with Acta’s managing and editorial boards, the Nordic Ophthalmological Societies, and Acta’s authors and readers to further the process which Professor Ehlers started. Several goals are worth pursuing: the reviewing and publishing process should be streamlined so that accepted manuscripts can be published within nine months of submission, the editorial board should have a much more active role, the number of review articles should increase, clinical case discussions and news material should have higher priority and more room, communication with the readers of the journal should be enhanced through more editorials, the complete articles of the journal should be available over internet, and cooperation with industry and advertisers should be furthered. At the same time Acta should continue to encourage and welcome contributions from outside the Nordic countries – as we have in this issue – and strive to increase circulation across the world. In this way Acta can serve its readers, owners, authors and advertisers even better than before, and strengthen the role of Nordic ophthalmology as an important, interactive and contributing part of the world-wide ophthalmic community.