Nurturing Respirology

Field: Medicine (Health Sciences)

As we enter a new year, we would like to share some reflections on the progress of Respirology during 2018. Respirology is a key component of the mission of the Asian Pacific Society of Respirology (APSR). The journal has an important role to disseminate knowledge of lung and sleep disorders and to advocate for respiratory health priorities in the Asia-Pacific region. To achieve these aims, the journal has to be of international quality and relevance and publish research reflecting a high standard of medicine and research practiced in the Asia-Pacific region. This goal is gradually being achieved as evidenced by several outcomes, but the Editors and Editorial team remain committed to further improvements in the way the journal operates and publishes in the future. In excess of 1000 submissions were received during 2018, with more than 60% originating from the Asia-Pacific region. The Editors-in-Chief are engaged with the Deputy Editors in selecting the top original articles to send for external peer review. Authors of manuscripts not selected for review are notified promptly. The acceptance rate of original articles sent for peer review is around 40%, with the first decision reaching the authors within about 6 weeks, and articles are published online within 6 weeks after acceptance. Respirology has increased its publication frequency from 8 to 12 issues per year, so members receive new content more often. New initiatives in this year's issues were Commentaries and Letters from the Asia-Pacific Region that engaged with the latest respiratory news globally and from countries in the APSR region. A key future aim is to simplify the submission process for authors (‘your paper as you want to present it’) and to shorten the time allocated for external reviews. Our researchers and supporters deserve a swift, transparent and fair assessment of their work, and the intention is to continually improve our processes and to avoid ‘red tape’. The journal's readership has increased its ranking, relative to other international journals. The number of full-text article downloads has exceeded 500 000 per year, and the journal's citations have continued to increase. The impact factor is now 4.407, which positions Respirology in the top 10 Respiratory Systems journals (Journal Citation Reports, Clarivate Analytics, 2018). Our high-quality expert reviews are popular and among the most downloaded and cited articles. In 2018, Respirology published several review series that included Tuberculosis, Molecular Techniques for Respiratory Diseases and Paediatric and Adult Bronchiectasis. The full collection of papers will become available as Topics in Focus on Respirology’s website. The journal website was recently updated, and we encourage readers to explore its collections of articles, educational papers, author videos and visual abstracts—a new feature presenting the key message of research articles in a single image, for use in presentations and journal clubs. The progress of Respirology would not be possible without support. As always, we are grateful to all the Editors and Editorial Board members for their hard work, and we were pleased to see many of our members at the various Editorial Board meetings throughout the year. We warmly welcome Vanessa McDonald as Associate Editor, Hisako Matsumoto as Editorial Board member as well as Ngo Quy Chau, Dushantha Madegedara and Saly Saint who will represent the Vietnam Respiratory Society (VNRS), Sri Lanka College of Pulmonologists (SLCP) and Cambodia Pulmonology Association (CPA), respectively, on the journal's Editorial Board. The hard-working staff from the Editorial Office and our Publisher, Wiley, merit our thanks. Finally, we would like to thank APSR members, the APSR Secretariat and members of APSR's Executive Committee for continued strong support of Respirology. We remain committed to publishing high-quality research papers, reviews and relevant scientific and clinical material for your interest, education and enjoyment.