JASN
Authors: WILLIAM G. COUSER
Journal: Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (2001)

The opportunity to serve the American Society of Nephrology (ASN) as editor-in-chief of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (JASN) is an honor that I look forward to with both excitement and humility. This journal, different from most of its competitors, has a truly remarkable history, going from its infancy to its current place at the top of renal journals in a remarkably short period of only 11 years. Looking first at the past, my service with the ASN is of sufficient duration to remember the early discussions, during the presidency of Jay Stein, regarding the need for a new scientific journal in nephrology. The decision to move forward with the new journal in 1989 and the selection of Dr. Jared Grantham from the University of Kansas as the first editor-in-chief were prescient moves that ushered in a new era not only for the journal but also for the ASN itself. As the society waited with trepidation, Dr. Grantham skillfully guided the journal through its infancy with the first issue in July 1990 to the end of his term in 1996. Submissions went from 217 per year to more than 500 per year during that interval. Without Dr. Grantham's patience, wisdom, and energy, JASN likely would not exist today. His efforts were strongly complemented by those of his deputy editor, Larry Sullivan, as well as those of JASN's first—and still only—managing editor, Bonnie O'Brien, whose hard work, commitment to excellence, and ability to form personal relationships with authors and reviewers around the world were an integral part of the first JASN era in Kansas City.FigureWhen Dr. Grantham's term expired in 1996, the editorial office, along with Bonnie O'Brien, relocated from Kansas City to Gainesville, Florida, under the direction of the second JASN editor-in-chief, Dr. C. Craig Tisher. Dr. Tisher was selected from a field of very strong candidates during my term as president of the ASN. Just as he had done with the society and annual meeting during his term as president, Dr. Tisher added a number of new features to the journal, including the popular “Milestones in Nephrology” series, “Science Watch,” and “Disease of the Month.” His term was characterized by a continued dramatic increase in the journal's quality and visibility. Manuscript submissions went from 636 in 1997 to almost 900 in 2000 and will exceed 1000 in 2001. The editorial staff increased from five to eight, and two consulting editors were added. The impact factor reached a level of 6.2, making JASN the most highly cited publication in the nephrology/urology field. The journal under Dr. Tisher also became broader in scope, adding three associate editors from Europe and a number of non-Americans to the editorial board. In addition, the journal has drawn heavily on international authors for many of its best manuscripts. In assuming the position as the third JASN editor-in-chief, I salute both Jared Grantham and Craig Tisher for the wisdom, time, and sweat that they have devoted to making JASN what it is today. I pay tribute as well to the preceding deputy editors, Drs. Larry Sullivan in Kansas City and Kirsten Madsen in Gainesville, as well as to the many distinguished individuals who have served as associate editors or members of the editorial board. So, what is ahead for this remarkable publication, now a jewel in the crown of the ASN and riding the crest of the wave among renal journals? Is the future only an exercise in maintaining the high level of success of the past two eras, or is there more to be done? I confess to feeling a bit like George Selkirk as he stepped into right field for the New York Yankees the year after the retirement of Babe Ruth in the late 1930s! But, I am an optimist and would not consider the assignment if maintaining the status quo were the only goal. Good as it is currently, JASN can and will get better. My goals are simple: to publish the very best renal science, both basic and clinical, that is being done on this planet and to make JASN the equivalent in the world of renal journals to what the ASN Annual Meeting has become in the world of renal meetings. How best to accomplish this? The most important resource will be the people involved. Seven very distinguished new (and one old) associate editors have agreed to serve the journal during the coming 6 years, including Drs. Charles Alpers (pathology, experimental renal disease) and Stuart Shankland (cell biology, signaling) from the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington; Dr. Victor Schuster (transport) from Albert Einstein School of Medicine in New York; Dr. Mohamed Sayegh (transplantation) from Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts; Dr. William Owen (dialysis and end-stage renal disease) from Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina; and Dr. Peter Igarashi (genetics and development) from the University of Texas Southwestern in Dallas, Texas. Dr. Eberhard Ritz (clinical nephrology, hypertension) from the University of Heidelberg in Heidelberg, Germany, has kindly agreed to remain on as an associate editor with additional responsibility for “Disease of the Month.” One additional individual will be named to cover clinical research and epidemiology. Craig Tisher and Bob Narins (ASN Director of Postgraduate Education, Washington, DC) will join Jared Grantham as consulting editors. Allison Eddy, Head of Pediatric Nephrology at Children's Hospital and Medical Center and the University of Washington in Seattle, a prominent pediatrician and distinguished investigator of mechanisms of interstitial disease and fibrosis, will serve as my deputy editor and alter ego in Seattle. I have selected two associate editors from Seattle (Drs. Alpers and Shankland) to form at my own institution a core of people who are committed to JASN, believing that the regular input of this group will energize further my own efforts just as Drs. Madsen and Miller have done for Dr. Tisher in Gainesville. Last but not least, JASN will continue to be the fortunate beneficiary of the remarkable talents of Bonnie O'Brien as managing editor through the next era. A new editorial office is being set up at a new site in Gainesville and will remain there connected to the ASN in Washington, DC, and to my office in Seattle through use of web technology that will make this feasible. This is a talented and experienced group that I look forward to setting into action this month to publish our first issue in January 2002. And the journal itself? There are a number of changes envisioned. The most obvious one to authors and reviewers initially will be conversion to a web-based technology for manuscript submission, tracking, and review, a process already in use by several major scientific journals. This will speed time of review and shorten the delay between submission and publication. The popular “Disease of the Month” feature will remain in the capable hands of Dr. Eberhard Ritz, the only member of the current editorial staff who will remain. We will continue to do a “Science Watch” or a review article in each issue with input from the ASN's Basic Science Committee and Clinical Research Committee on choice of topics. “Milestones in Nephrology,” another popular innovation developed by Craig Tisher and handled by Mark Knepper, will not continue beyond 2001, as these papers are becoming increasingly more difficult to identify and require an extraordinary amount of time to prepare for publication. The new editorial team is fully cognizant of the need to bridge the gap between outstanding basic research in the age of molecular medicine and the practicing nephrologists who compose the bulk of the ASN membership and JASN readership. It is my intent to place additional emphasis on translational material, written by myself or other members of the editorial team, to make clear the implications of our most exciting papers for future clinical practice. We will add more solicited editorials to expand on new discoveries and their relevance to clinical and experimental nephrology, and we will work very hard to enhance our role in areas that traditionally have not been a focus for JASN, such as renal physiology, transplantation, and modern clinical and epidemiologic research. As we add more translational material to the journal, we must remain within page limits contracted with our longstanding publisher, Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins. Combined with the increasing number of manuscripts submitted to JASN from around the world, this likely will result in some reduction in our acceptance rate, now at approximately 25%. In my view, the progressive raising of the bar for accepting papers for publication in JASN, although it may disappoint some authors, inevitably will elevate the quality of the science that we publish and therefore result in a better product for both authors and readers. So I begin my role as editor-in-chief of JASN with a profound respect for the quality of the journal that I inherit, the society that publishes it, and the sophistication of its readers. I have intense admiration for the skills and efforts of my predecessors, who have brought the journal from its inception to this point in its history, and deep gratitude that the society has honored me with this responsibility. I am grateful already to the new members of the editorial team, as well as to Bonnie O'Brien, for their commitment to working together to achieve the goals that I have articulated above. But it is you, the society members and JASN readers, who are the most important judges of our success. Just as the ASN solicits feedback on satisfaction and concerns regarding the annual meeting, I, too, invite all of you not only to take this trip with us but also to provide us with any feedback that you have on how we are doing. I think that reaching our goals will be a significant challenge, but I expect the process also to be a lot of fun!